The Upper East Siders
by yogurtberry
Summary: Nate, Chuck, and Blair come from a different world but when Nate witnesses a car crash involving the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen, he makes the reckless decision to save her.
1. Chapter 1

...

Serena could tell her driver was getting nervous about driving in the weather. He kept apologizing for the car skidding slightly.

Serena smiled at him through the rearview mirror and took a sip of her drink. "It's okay. I know it's terrible to drive when it rains She looked outside and frowned, it was hardly snowing at all.

Serena remembered looking down at her phone and then hearing a huge crash. She didn't know how long she was out but she woke up to her body in so much pain she thought she was going to pass out. Her seatbelt prevented her from falling but the car was upside down. She looked out the window to the trees that were visible in the moonlight. "Dave!" She called out to her driver but heard no response. She clicked her seatbelt off and slammed against the roof of the floor. She let out a painful yelp and started crawling out through the window.

Serena crawled to the front of the car and found Dave still in the drivers seat. "Dave, please wake up!" She felt tears sting her eyes when she couldn't feel his pulse. She looked around; they'd driven off a bank and must have flipped over. Where was the other car? She tried to see the road or listen for sirens but her eyelids were getting heavy. She used the car to push herself to stand and then noticed pieces of glass sticking out from her side and her stomach. There was so much blood everywhere. She grabbed Dave from his arm and tried to pull him out of the car but she was too weak.

The feeling of death crept over her and she was too overwhelmed by pain and grief to stand. She let herself fall to her knees. She touched her stomach gently and realized she could hardly feel any pain there, she held her hands out in front of her face, and they were bloody and trembling.

She fell backwards and stared at the full moon above her. She felt the grass in the back of her neck and her eyelids got heavy. Strong arms grabbed her shoulder and dragged her slightly. Someone had pulled her so her head lay on their lap.

Her eyes locked on blue eyes staring back at her. She blinked to focus on his face. She opened her mouth to tell him to call her mom but she was too tired. She let her eyes close and fell into a deep sleep.

…

"You brought her here!? Are you insane? You could get in so much trouble for this!" Blair paced up and down the infirmary.

Nate nodded. "I know. I don't care."

Another voice spoke. "She's awake."

Serena heard voices but didn't recognize them. She opened up her eyes and saw a woman with kind eyes smiling at her. She suddenly remembered her horrible accident and that she was dying. She sat up with a loud gasp and started hyperventilating. The woman tried to calm her down. "You're okay, darling. You're alright."

Serena gave her a confused look. She gently touched her side where all her injuries were but there was no pain. She looked at the woman with wide eyes. "Am I dead?"

A man with an authoritative voice answered her. "Not exactly." He looked at her and immediately understood his grandson's decision. "I'm William Van der Bilt."

Serena blinked at him. "Where am I?" She looked around the room. "Wait, Dave! He was driving my car. Is he okay?"

He shook his head at her. "He didn't make it, I'm sorry." He looked at the clothes on the nightstand. Get dressed and nurse will escort you to my office. There, I will explain everything.

Serena got up and fumbled with the knot of her hospital gown. She pulled at the string and it ripped. She looked at her hand. Since when was she so strong? She looked around the room and noticed that the colors looked different, has everything always looked this clear? She was probably just happy to be alive. She quickly got dressed and was escorted to William's office.

The nurse smiled at her. "He'll be with you soon. You can wait here." Serena nodded and watched her walk away. She wasn't close to the door but she could hear the conversation.

"What was I supposed to do? Let her die!?"

William looked at his grandfather. "Yes, Nathaniel. That is exactly what you were supposed to do. We are not supposed to intervene with the affairs of the mortals."

Nate gave him a dirty look. "Well, I couldn't do that and I won't apologize for it. I know what the consequences are."

"You will come before the council tonight."

Nate nodded. "Fine. Are we done here?"

"Just because you're my grandson doesn't mean –"

Nate cut him off. "I'm not asking for special treatment. I made my decision and I don't regret it."

William gave him a ridiculous look. "You don't even know this girl. You're risking a lot for a pretty face." He let out a sigh. "It's going to be at 8. Don't be late."

Nate walked out of the office to find Serena admiring a painting outside. She turned to him and recognized him immediately but he kept walking before she could say anything.

Serena frowned and knocked at the large wooden door. "Come in."

Serena walked in cautiously. "Who was that who just walked out? I've seen him before. I think he saved my life."

William smiled at her. "That's my grandson, Nate." He took his seat and motioned her to sit too. "We have a lot to talk about."


	2. Chapter 2

Serena sped up. "Hey! Hang on a second!"

Nate hesitated for a second but stopped walking. "Yes?"

Serena looked at him. "I never got the chance to thank you for saving my life."

"I don't know that I'd exactly call it saving but, yeah, no problem." He started walking again.

Serena walked with him even though she got the sense he wanted to be left alone. "I'm Serena, by the way. You're Nate right?"

He looked away. "I'm busy right now."

She didn't understand why he was being so rude. "Okay. Sorry."

Nate glanced at her. "We're not really supposed to be talking."

"Oh." She started slowing down. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"Can you stop apologizing? It's not your fault."

She stopped walking. "Well, it was nice to meet you." She realized it came out sarcastic but she couldn't help it.

Nate opened his mouth to say something but instead he said walked away without another word.

…

Serena could feel her senses getting heightened and she wasn't sure how to react to it. Her mentor told her to relax and to breathe deeply but that was easier said than done. "You will start school. 12th grade like normal and you will live in this room, if you like it. There are plenty of kids your age here and at school there will be mortals too. But you can't tell any mortals about us because it's against the rules…remember we talked about that? It's probably the most serious one, well that and turning."

"What?"

"You're not allowed to feed on a human. Remember that above all else, or reveal that you are different in any way."

Serena nodded. "Everyone keeps telling me about that. But I would never want to bite someone, that's crazy. Just the thought of blood is disgusting."

"Your cravings will develop. It's just a matter of time."

Serena nodded. "How long will it take? It's been over a week."

Jasmine looked at her sadly. "I'm not sure. We haven't had someone like you here for a while. Most of us come from ancient bloodlines. I mean, there are accidents but usually they're disposed of."

"Disposed of?" Serena frowned at her. "You mean…so…why am I still alive?"

Jasmine shook her head. "I don't know but you mustn't think of that. You are here and you are beautiful and ready for your first day." She kissed her cheek. "Go along now."

…

Serena was having a somewhat successful day at her new school. There were only about 50 people per grade but she recognized a lot of faces from the coven, as they called themselves. There were about 20 of them in her grade alone and there was clearly a clique problem.

Serena sat at a table with a girl with long black hair who told her about her family and the bloodline they belonged to. Serena ate her sandwich and pretended to be interested. She was so hungry and even though she devoured her sandwich it wasn't enough at all. "I'll be right back, I am just gonna grab some water."

She went to the bathroom and quickly splashed water on her face then drinking it from the sink. When she opened her eyes she saw Nate staring at her. She looked at him. "I was just –"

"Thirsty?"

Serena nodded. "Yes. And hungry."

"You need blood."

Serena scrunched up her face. "That's disgusting."

He pulled out a blood bag out of his backpack. "Have some. It's been in a fridge all day so it's good."

Serena shook her head. "I can't." She made to walk past him but Nate stopped her. "You need to drink before you kill someone. Come on, the door's locked and class probably starts soon."

Serena took the bag from his and opened it. She started sucking on it slowly. She opened her mouth because felt her teeth expanding into fangs and she recoiled from the bag.

Nate watched her carefully. "That's normal. Come on, keep drinking." She kept drinking and he could feel the life entering her body.

When she was done she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "Thank you. I feel…so much better." She felt amazing, in fact.

Nate smiled at her. "I'm glad I could help."

Serena looked around. "Why are you in the girls restroom, anyway?"

"I was going to meet Blair here."

Serena opened her mouth to speak but Blair walked in the doors and looked back and forth at them. "It's a party in here."

Nate smiled at her. "Blair, I gotta go. Do you have it?"

Blair nodded and put something in Nate's pocket before Serena could see what it was.

Nate kissed her cheek quickly. "I owe you one. See you later." He walked out quickly..

Blair turned to look at Serena. She wasn't sure whether she liked her or not. She hated how attractive she was. "I'd stay away from Nate if I were you."

Serena looked at her. "Do you and him have some sort of –"

Blair rolled her eyes. "No, it's just some friendly advice. His grandfather is the coven leader and a lot is expected of Nate. He really can't afford any distractions especially because he's already in so much trouble for saving you in the first place."

"He's in trouble because of me?"

The bell rang and Blair ignored her and walked out.

...

Serena was lonely. A couple of the girls her age had welcomed her into their friend groups but she didn't really clique with any of them. As of now, she wasn't allowed to contact her family. They hadn't even been informed of the crash. The driver's disappearance was covered up. They all thought she'd gone back to boarding school. She was allowed a couple of e-mails but nothing else.

She tossed and turned in her bed before giving up. She walked out of her room and went to look for the kitchen. The coven headquarters was essentially the biggest mansion Serena could ever imagine. A lot of it was underground but above ground was equally as impressive in her eyes. Most families lived around the city but the headquarters had a huge living area reserved for those who chose to reside within. Many of the council members chose to live in the building because it was convenient. The Archibald's lived just a block down but it all connected underground.

She went to the kitchen and opened the fridge to find it full of bags of blood. She opened one, put a straw in it and drank it while taking a tour of the place. She really hadn't seen much of it. She walked up a few flights of stairs and opened a random door and found a library. It was full of books in languages she couldn't recognize. "Couldn't sleep?"

The voice startled her and she looked around to see Nate sitting by the fireplace and near a big window that looked down into the city. "Yeah. Sorry, I didn't know anybody else was here."

Nate shrugged. "You can sit if you want."

She paused for a second but then decided to sit in the comfortable couch across from him. The fireplace next to them was relaxing. "You got in trouble for saving me."

Nate looked at her. "I'll live."

She smiled at him. "You know, when I saw you in the forest, I thought you were an angel."

Nate laughed. "An angel? Well I think a lot people would argue that I'm the complete opposite."

"How much trouble are you in?"

Nate looked at the fire for a few seconds. "Not much." He cleared his throat. "What's it like to be human?"

Serena raised her eyebrows at him. "What? Don't you know?"

He shook his head at her. "I suppose my soul once knew but I cannot remember."

She looked at him. "What does that mean?"

Nate smiled at her and leaned over enthusiastically. "Some of us are given gifts. We are born with the souls of our ancestors and can have abilities. Only very few memories remain from our past lives though. I think this is my 5th life cycle, maybe 6th, it gets hard to tell some memories apart from others, they're very hazy."

Serena gave him a skeptical look. "Are you just messing with me?"

Nate laughed. "It must sound crazy. But it's true. I can bend time."

"You can what?"

"It's not very developed but I can try, throw something at me like right at my face."

Serena looked around. She went to grab a book and threw it in his direction. It suddenly started moving in slow motion and Nate got up in his normal speed and walked over to her. She reached out to touch him but her arm also moved in slow motion. He smiled and tucked a strand of her behind her ear. She blinked and everything went back to normal. She smiled at Nate who stood in front of her. "You're amazing."

He shook his head. "Nah, I'm just showing off."

She clapped for him. "Consider me impressed. Will you please tell me what your punishment was?"

He was quiet for a moment. He held out his hands to her. "They took my ring away." They each had rings or some sort of jewelry that allowed them to walk in the sun. "I am allowed to have it to go to school but I'm basically in house arrest during the day." He decided to leave out the physical punishment he'd received. The coven was stuck in medieval times in that sense.

"Oh. For how long?"

Nate shrugged. "For a while. It's not a big deal. I prefer the night obviously. We don't shine in the sun, or whatever it is that books say these days."

She smiled at him. "I hope I never have to find out what it actually feels like."

Nate briefly thought about her walking into the sun. He felt an overwhelming need to protect her. What the hell was happening to him? He really didn't even know her. "I hope so too."

"I really should go. I'll walk you back to your room."

Serena nodded. "Okay. And good, because I don't know where I am."


	3. Chapter 3

"Nathaniel, you should be careful. You've hung out with her every day for the past 2 months. Don't you think that's excessive?"

Nate dribbled the ball around Chuck and shot at the basket. The ball twirled around the hoop before it went in. "Maybe but I just…she's so awesome. You met her! You like her too."

Chuck grabbed the ball and dribbled it. "Yeah I like her. I would have casual sex with her every night but I would know better than developing actually feelings."

Nate stole the ball away. "We're just friends. We've never even kissed."

Chuck stood up straight and stared at him. "Look, you know that nothing could ever come of it. That's all I'm saying."

Nate dropped the ball. "I'm not an idiot, Chuck. I know. I've known since I was three, okay? It's not even like that."

"What do you say we go hunting? You, me, and Blair…like old times? Serena can come too since she's part of the crew now."

Nate shrugged. "Sure. I'm sure she'd appreciate the taste of fresh animal blood."

"We can show her the ropes."

Serena couldn't picture Blair doing anything athletic but she was glad to get out of the coven and do something different.

They packed their weekend backs and hit the road. Blair sat in the backseat with Serena. "There's a really nice cabin up there, obviously I wouldn't sleep anywhere there isn't running water."

Serena smiled at Blair. "I can't wait to see it." Serena went on to tell her about a gorgeous dress that she saw online that they should go try on.

Chuck pulled up to the cabin. He looked in the rear view mirror to see that both Serena and Blair were asleep. "Blair…Serena. Wake up. We're here. If you guys want to sleep and hunt in the morning –"

Serena shook her head. "I'm okay. Blair?"

Blair smiled at her. "Let's show this newbie how it's done."

Serena watched her three friends tear into a deer each. It was a lot more animalistic than she expected. She could throw up. She'd let the one she caught go because she didn't want to kill it. She'd seen Bambi multiple times as a child. She backed away quietly and let them eat in piece. She was thirsty though. She made her way back to the cabin and realized it was beautiful. They had Internet and cable and everything.

She flipped through the channels until she saw The Bachelorette and made herself comfortable in the couch. She heard footsteps approach and saw Nate standing leaning against the doorway. "You disappeared."

She looked back at the TV. "Sorry, I just wanted to come back here." She went on when she saw that he wanted more of an explanation. "I just got a little overwhelmed and couldn't stop thinking of Bambi."

Nate walked over to her. "You can't just disappear. I thought you were hurt or lost!"

Serena frowned at him. "I'm sorry. I didn't think it was a big deal. I'm fine. Nothing happened."

He let out a frustrated sigh and plopped down next to her. "What do you mean overwhelmed?"

"I just…I didn't like it. I prefer drinking from bags. It's a lot more…" She stopped herself before she said something that could insult him.

Nate rolled his eyes at her. "A lot more what? Civilized?" He got up. "There are covens that hunt people, you know. You're lucky you didn't end up there."

"Why are you so angry at me? I am allowed to disagree with you, you know."

"I'm angry at myself! Because I expected you to just understand and be okay with this but it's not okay. I turned you into this creature that has to take life to survive. And I can see it in your eyes, you're afraid of me."

"Nate, stop." She walked over to him and grabbed his hand and put it over her chest. "Do you feel that? I'm alive because of you. I don't see this as a curse and you're right, I don't understand everything. It's been two months, you expect me to just understand everything in a new world full of people I didn't even know could exist? I pretty much lost everyone I ever knew and I'm doing the best I can with all these new rules and feelings. So, I'm sorry that I hurt your feelings because I didn't want to stick around and watch you eat a deer. Because yes, I thought it was gross. But you know what? Get over it." She let his hand drop and looked him in the eye. "And I'm not afraid of you."

Nate didn't know why he was smiling but he was. He held up his hands in defeat. "Okay."

Serena went to sit back on the couch. "Okay. Now do you want to watch the Bachelorette with me?"

"Sure." He sat next to her. "What's a Bambi?"

"Didn't you watch Disney movies when you were younger?"

"I watched a couple. TV isn't really my thing."

She smiled at him. "So what is your thing?"

He noticed how close her face was. "Um…sports? I don't know." He tried to distract himself but her lips were drawing him in. He leaned in and kissed her softly.

…

Blair sat on the steps of the Met with Chuck. He ate a spoonful of her frozen yogurt. "Have you noticed Nate and Serena acting a little weird?"

Chuck shrugged. "Not really. Why do you say that?"

"I don't think we've all hung out since we went to the cabin last weekend. Do you think they hooked up?"

Chuck shook his head. "No way. We would've heard something. Besides, he would have told us, right?"

"I think he's falling for her. I'm worried about him...and her."

"No way. Look, we all like Serena. And we all feel like we have to look out for her because she's so new to all this. Nate just feels a little bit closer to her because feels responsible for her. He's going to be the next coven leader, he's known that all his life."

"But what if he does fall in love with her?"

"Look, she's hot. He's attracted to her, so what? You know we can't just fall in love."

"I know. Logically, I know. But I see the way he looks at her and he's been with other girls before and it's not –" She looked away for a second. "He looks at her the way you look at me."

"You mean the way you look at me?"

Blair smiled. "Shut up. You know what I mean."

"Blair. We are soul mates…literally. We were born for each other. Serena and Nate weren't. Nate was born for Isabel."

"We haven't seen Isabel in three years."

"Nate will turn 18 in a few months. She is coming."

Blair ate a bite of her froyo. She considered telling him about her dreams. Blair sometimes had dreams that let her gain insight into the future but they were often hard to decipher. It was one of the most precious gifts but it also took a mental toll on her. She would wake up with a headache and feel nauseous. She smiled at him instead. "Want to ditch school today? Go shopping?"

Chuck stood up. "I can think of a few other things we can do. Come on."

…

Serena frowned when she saw that Chuck and Blair weren't at school. She spotted Nate on the other side of the courtyard. When he saw her he turned and walked the other way.

Serena sprinted to follow him. "Nate!" He pretended not to hear her and kept walking. "Nathaniel!"

Nate stopped and turned. "Oh, hey. Sorry, I gotta run. I have an exam when lunch ends so I have to go cram for it."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were avoiding me."

Nate shook his head. "No, of course not. Why would I do that?"

"I was going to ask you that. It wouldn't have anything to do with our kiss the other day, would it?"

Nate cleared his throat nervously. "Um, no. Of course not."

"Good. Because I was hoping we would do that again."

"You were?"

She nodded at him. "Yes." She took a step closer to him.

Nate thought about running away but he really didn't want to. "Serena I –"

Serena interrupted him. "Nate, stop talking." She put her hands on his jaw and kissed him softly.

Nate wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her to him. He gently pressed her against the wall and deepened their kiss.

The bell rang to signal that lunch was over and he pulled away from her. He could hear their classmates were making their way to the hallway but he didn't care. He pressed his forehead against her and breathed her smell in. "Serena –"

Serena pushed him away slightly so she could look at his face. "Yeah?"

He pulled away completely. "I'll see you later." He walked away quickly.

...

Serena picked up her phone. "I'm surprised you called."

Nate frowned at his phone. "Why would you be surprised?"

"I don't know, Nate. I guess it's because I'm getting such mixed signals. I don't want to play games."

"I don't want to play games either. Can you come to the library?"

"Why?"

"Because I'm here and I want to see you."

"Hm…"

"Please? It's three floors up."

"Fine." Serena hung up the phone and walked up the stairs slowly. She put her hand on the doorknob and heard Nate's footsteps on the other side. She opened it slowly.

Nate smiled at her and grabbed her hand. "Come." He led her into the room to a table set up with candles and roses. Nate answered her question. "I thought we could have an actual date."

He walked around and pulled the seat out for her. "I'd rather take you to a nice restaurant but…" He looked down at his ringless finger. "The sun's still out so I can't leave."

She sat down and smiled at him as he poured them champagne. "What are we eating?"

He uncovered the silver tray to reveal a large pizza.

"This is perfect."

Serena looked at her phone and realized they'd been there for over 5 hours. "It's almost midnight!"

Nate got up and started gathering everything on the tray. "I should go before they start looking for me."

"Okay. Thanks for doing this. I have a great time."

He walked over to kiss her. "Does that mean I get a second date?"

Serena nodded. "Of course."

…

Nate put everything back in its place in the kitchen. He walked down to the tunnel that led past grand meeting room and to the Archibald townhouse.

He was walking past the offices of the council members when his grandfather was walking out of his office. "Nathaniel?"

Nate stopped. "Hi grandfather."

"What are you doing up so late? Don't you have school tomorrow?"

"I couldn't sleep. I thought I'd read in the library for a bit."

"We haven't gotten a moment alone in a while. I hope you don't think I'm being too hard on you."

"No, sir."

William gave him a nod. "Let me see your back."

Nate stood completely still.

"Nathaniel…"

Nate turned around and lifted up his shirt to show him the scars that he put there.

"They are fading quite nicely. In a few weeks it will be like they never happened at all."

Nate turned to him angrily, suppressing a growl. "They may fade in time, grandfather, but I will always remember."

"If I am hard on you, it is to make you stronger. In a few years, you will become me."

Nate didn't realize how much anger he'd been harboring against William. The thought of being like him made him sick. "I will never become you."

William ignored his comment and held out his ring to him. "Your punishment is over. Now go to bed."


	4. Chapter 4

Blair sat at the steps of the Met with Serena. "We should double date! Are there any boys you think are cute?"

Serena looked at her because she thought she was joking. Had Nate really not said anything to Blair about them?

"Um…no one that comes to mind."

"I'll set you up with someone. Maybe someone from the coven?"

"I gotta go. I'll see you later." Serena stood and walked a couple of blocks to school. She was heading to class early when she saw Nate.

Nate smiled at her. "Hey! Guess what?"

"Hi." Serena kept walking.

He followed her. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. What did you have to tell me?"

"I'm off house arrest."

She gave him a small smile. "That's great, Nate. "

He put a hand on her arm to keep her from leaving. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm just tired." She saw he wasn't buying it. "Blair wants to set me up with someone so I can double date with her and Chuck. Because she doesn't know about us. I wasn't aware we were keeping this a secret."

"It's not like I want to keep it a secret! Do you honestly think I wouldn't want to tell everyone that you're mine?"

"I'm not yours."

He frowned at her. "Well, I'm yours. I love you, Serena."

She recoiled from him. "Don't. How can you be mine when I can't even touch you in public?"

…

Nate had never felt so miserable in his life. He'd told Serena how he felt and she'd completely shot him down. He grabbed his jacket and marched through the tunnel, into the headquarters and up to her room. He knocked on the door.

Serena opened her eyes and got up lazily. Was it Jasmine? She walked out of her room and into the common room to open the door. "What are you doing here?"

Nate gave her a dirty look and closed the door behind him. "I don't know, Serena. Maybe I'm a masochist who likes being rejected."

Serena crossed her arms and refused to back down. "I guess you are."

He furrowed his brows like he did when he was upset. "Are you purposefully trying to piss me off?"

She shrugged nonchalantly.

Nate let out a frustrated groan. "You're impossible, you know that!? Do you want me to tell Blair and Chuck? Let's go tell them right now." He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him.

"No! Stop. Just forget it."

He let her go. "Forget what? Do you mean just this or everything?"

She shook her head at him. "I don't know."

He pinched the bridge of his nose with two fingers like he did when he was stressed. "I don't want to lose you. Please tell me that's not what you want."

Every trace of anger left her body. She couldn't even imagine being angry with him. "No of course not. And if you think keeping us a secret is best then I can respect that…for now."

He hugged her tightly. "Thank you. I really hate it when you're angry with me. You're terrifying, you know that?"

Serena laughed. "Come on. Let's go to bed."

….

Serena and Nate were both startled awake at the same time. The both sat up suddenly and looked at each other. Nate spoke first. "Do you hear that too?"

Serena nodded. It sounded like an angry mob was right outside her window. It was 9 am on a Sunday. Nate walked slowly to the window and looked outside and the yelling got louder. They were on the 8th floor. He opened the window and looked down to see a group of about 10 people with picket signs. "Monsters! Demons! Abomination!"

Nate quickly got dressed. "Stay here. Stay away from the window, call me if you need anything."

"Where are you going? Please don't go down there, they sound really angry." Nate couldn't help but smile at her. She really had no idea how strong they really were.

"I won't. I have to go find my family." He kissed her cheek and ran out of the room. He jumped a flight of stairs in each move and he reached the underground tunnels in a matter of seconds. He saw the elders were already gathering in the chapter room. "Grandfather."

They all looked at him because he really shouldn't be there. Anne Archibald smiled at him. "Hi honey. Dad, let him stay."

William nodded. "Close the door behind you."

He looked around to see Bart Bass, and Eleanor Waldorf whispering to each other in the corner of the room. Bart Bass locked eyes with him for a brief second then took his seat.

Nate stood uncomfortably behind his mother and his grandfather's seats. William cleared his throat and the room fell silent. "As many of you already know, there has been a crime committed by one of our children. Anthony Gilbert has killed a human while hunting...there were two witnesses. They have already assembled a mob outside our walls."

Bart spoke up. "I have located Chuck. He went to go persuade them to forget it." When he put his mind to it, Chuck had the ability to make most humans believe his every word. His phone chimed. "That's him. He says they have been taken care of."

Eleanor looked at him. "And the boy?"

Another council member Paul Chamberlain spoke up. "He broke one of our most sacred rules. He must be made an example of for all the other teens who recklessly go hunting." He shot Nate a look.

Anne Archibald looked at William. "He's just a boy. Younger than Nate."

They all broke out into arguments. William stood up and pounded his fists against the table. "Silence! The boy will have a trial and he will be sentenced to death."

He got up quickly and left the room. Nate turned to follow him but his mother caught his arm. "Nate, let him go." Nate broke free from her grasp and ran after William, who was already at his office. He stepped in the office. "You can't kill him! Please! I am begging you."

"It has been a very long morning and I am tired, Nathaniel."

"It was a mistake! He thought he was an animal! Please…show mercy. Punish him like you punished me. But don't kill me. He's not even 17 yet!"

"Enough!"

"This is barbaric! Our coven hasn't sentenced anyone to death in a century. We aren't animals!"

With one quick move, William slammed Nate hard against the wall and pinned him by his neck. He growled and bared his fangs at him. His eyes were black. "I said enough! He said it with such force Nate was sure the whole building shook.

"Dad, let him go!"

William turned to see Anne at the doorway. He placed him back on the floor carefully. "I apologize. Get him out of here."

Anne grabbed Nate's arm and dragged him away. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

…

Nate had missed calls from Serena, Chuck and Blair. He called Chuck. "Dude…is the council really going to kill Anthony? I can't believe it. That could have so easily happened to one of us."

"Yes, they really are. It seems like everyone knows."

Chuck was quiet for a bit. "His family lives in the suite two floors below mine. I can still hear his parents crying when the guards came to drag him away to the cells."

"They brought him here already?"

"Yes. Why?"

"It's better you don't know."

"Know what? What are you gonna do?" He heard the line hang up but yelled anyway. "Nate! God Dammit!" He got up quickly and grabbed a jacket.

Nate walked quietly to the bottom floor of the building. He had only been to the dungeons once before but he remembered it well. There were two guards around the corner that guarded the cells. Nate focused on the time around him, he looked at his watch and it stopped moving. Quickly, he ran to the guards and grabbed the keys from his waist. He quickly opened the door and revealed a hallway full of cells on both sides, but only one of them was occupied. Anthony sat quietly in a cell with chains around his arms and legs so he wouldn't break them.

Nate opened his cell door quickly. He held a finger to his lips that told him to be quiet. And he fumbled with the locks for a bit before he finally got all the chains off him. "Let's go. Fast." He closed the doors and put the keys back on the waist of one of the guards. He had been forcing himself to keep the time still for longer than he ever had, he good feel it taking a toll on his body. He quickly led him out the front door and into a car.

He got in the drivers seat and drove a couple of blocks before he let time start again. Anthony looked at him. "Are you okay? Your nose is bleeding."

Nate tried to stop the blood with his sleeve and drove quietly. Anthony looked at him. "Why did you break me out? I don't know what to say."

Nate shook his head. "I couldn't let them kill you. You made a mistake."

"You have no idea how much I regret it. I never wanted to be a murderer. Maybe I do deserve to die."

"No. You're only 16. You're just a kid."

Nate drove him an hour outside of the city. He got out of the car. "Come on."

"What are they going to do to you?"

Nate shrugged. "I don't know." He grabbed a backpack from the backseat. "I packed some stuff for you. Look, I don't know what to tell you. You're so lucky that they didn't take your ring from you. Stay away from other covens, they will bring you back, they are loyal to William. Be smart…stay safe. Hunt at night and away from civilization."

Anthony nodded at him. He had tears in his eyes. "Thank you. Thank you." He hugged him tightly.

Nate pulled away after a second. "Run!" He felt a slight gust of wind when Anthony took off as fast as he could.

Nate felt his phone buzzing. It was Chuck's 5th call. "Hello?"

"Nate…please tell me you didn't do what I think you did."

"Chuck…I did exactly what you think I did."

"William could kill you for this…literally kill you."

"I know."

Chuck let out a sigh. "Just come home, man."

Nate nodded. "On my way."

…

Nate walked into Chuck's suite to find Serena and Blair there. He looked at Chuck. "You called them?"

Blair looked at him. "Nate, what have you done?"

Serena went to Nate and hugged him tightly. At that moment, Bart walked down the stairs quickly. "Hello."

Chuck looked at him. "You're leaving?"

He nodded. "William has summoned all the elders. We are having an emergency council meeting because the prisoner escaped. We're launching an investigation."

Chuck took a deep breath. He knew it would be worse and their anger would only build if the investigation took up time and resources. "I did it."

Blair stood up immediately. "No, it was me."

Nate looked at them both. "No, I did it by myself."

Serena cleared her throat. "No, I did."

They all looked at her. Blair rolled her eyes. "She had nothing to do with it. She didn't even know we had cells until a minute ago."

Bart looked at them. "Do you think this is some kind of joke? This is treason! Treason is punishable by death. Do you all have some sort of wish to take Anthony's place in front of the sun? And let me tell you something, you won't be wearing those pretty rings."

Chuck looked him in the eye. "I'm not joking. I didn't think it was fair so I let him go."

Blair spoke up. "He is only covering for me! I did it."

Nate was about to talk but Bart beat him. "All of you, come with me."

A few minutes later they were all at the coven and being led downstairs past the chapter room and into the large circular room. Nate hated this room; it was where trials and punishments happened. It had 9 seats for the elders on the far wall and seats for the public arranged along the circumference. The middle was a large empty space reserved for the accused.

Bart had called ahead and alerted the elders of the situation. He instructed Serena to quietly sit in the stands; she was the only person in the audience.

Bart took his seat to the left of William, who sat in the tallest seat in the middle with four elders on each of side of him.

Blair, Chuck and Nate took the three seats left for them in the center. Nate looked around for Serena and gave a reassuringly smile that she returned immediately.

William got up and walked toward them. "Nathaniel…Charles…Blair. Nathaniel you will one day take that middle seat. Charles…the seat to my left. Blair…the seat to the left of Charles. You alone make up one third of the leaders of the next generation."

He walked back to the side to retrieve something from a table. "But I will break you."

He turned back to them and let them see the whip he held in his hands. He let the ends of it drag behind him as he walked over to them. "I know what you may be thinking. And no, it won't hurt as much as it seems. It will hurt more. After all, I am very strong." He watched them squirm in their seats. "Nate can tell you first hand. He's still got the scars from about 40 of these for making that young lady sitting over there."

Chuck, Blair, and Serena all gave Nate a shocked look. They had no idea. Nate didn't dare make eye contact with any of them. "Grandfather…it was all me. I swear it. You don't need to hurt them."

William knew it was true despite Chuck and Blair's protests. "How did you get past the guards?"

Nate hadn't revealed to anyone except Serena the extent of his ability. They all knew he could slow down time but usually it only worked on humans. Now he was able to completely stop time for minutes. "My abilities are getting stronger. I can control them now, I could probably even stop you."

William's interest was piqued. "Show me." Nate closed his eyes for a second and he opened them to find everyone frozen. He smiled when he realized it worked on the elders but he knew it was only for a few seconds. He stood up and walked to the far right corner of the room. He blinked again. They were all amazed that he wasn't in his seat, the whole room looked around until they found him. William couldn't help but be proud that Nate was strengthening the family bloodline. "Amazing."

He turned back to the elders. "Unless anyone objects, I will dismiss the trial. I will tell people we felt merciful and exiled the boy. Nathaniel, walk with me. Everyone else is dismissed."

…

After what felt like the longest day of his life, Nate took a warm shower. He stepped out and dried himself before wrapping a towel around his waist. When he came out of the bathroom, he saw Serena sitting silently on the corner of his bed.

"Hi."

Nate smiled at her. "Hey."

They had made out plenty of times but the lights had always been off when she took off his shirt. She couldn't believe she'd never noticed anything. Nate reached for a shirt but she stood up and walked towards him. "Can I see them?"

Nate shook his head. "Don't. You'll only feel worse. It's not your fault. I'd do it a million times over."

"Please?"

He turned around. Serena saw dozens and dozens of lines that were slightly darker than the rest of him. She knew that they usually healed immediately with superficial cuts so these must have been terrible. "They don't hurt anymore. Besides, they should fade completely soon."

She leaned over and kissed them tenderly. Nate turned back to face her. Her eyes locked with his and she turned around and moved her hair out of the way. Nate slowly undid the zipper of her dress. He'd taken off her shirt before but that was as far and they'd ever gotten. The dress fell to the floor and she stepped out of it and turned back to kiss him. Nate ran his hands up and down her body. He broke their kiss briefly. "Are you sure?"

Serena nodded. He smiled and picked her up to lay her on his bed.

He smiled before kissing her again. "I love you."


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks so much for the reviews! I love reading them, they make my day. Made this chapter extra long for you guys! xo**

...

Blair and Serena took a wrong turn down a dark alley. Blair frowned. "Hmm…this isn't the way." They were trying to meet Chuck and Nate at a speakeasy but had seriously messed up the address.

Serena looked at Blair. "My phone is dead."

Blair frowned. "Mine's at one percent…let's see if it manages a call."

"Maybe we should get out of the dark alley…"

Blair turned to her and looked amused. "Are you afraid of humans? Oh please." She dialed Chuck's number. "Hi babe. Give me the address again, we must have passed it OH.I thought you said…okay. Phone is dying." Her phone beeped off on that moment.

She turned to Serena in time to see two figures approach them. They held up guns to them. "Give us your purses now!"

Serena held up her hands. "Okay, okay! Here!"

Blair looked at her like she was crazy. "Hell no! This is Chanel!" She back flipped into the air and landed behind them. She grabbed one guy and squeezed his neck hard and heard a gunshot as he fell to the ground. He quickly looked to see Serena on the floor. "God dammit." She went to the other guy before he got a chance to reload and snapped his neck in two.

She looked over Serena's body. She was shot right in the chest. "Idiot." She muttered to herself and picked her up and carried her down the dark alley. There was some blood of hers where she lay, but the bullet had gone through her so her cells were already starting to regenerate. She hailed a cab. "Um…she's really drunk." In a few minutes they were outside her building and she gave the guy and extra big tip and half carried Serena to the elevator.

When she got home she lay Serena on the couch and grabbed her house phone and called Chuck. "Hi…we aren't going to make it! Two assholes tried to mug us. No I took care of them…except Serena got shot right in the chest in the process. I'm going to take a bath but…can't you come here instead? I don't want her to wake up alone so I'm just going to stay in."

Nate snatched the phone. "You let her get shot!? What the fuck, Blair?"

"Oh, relax! I snapped his neck, if that makes you feel better."

"Not really."

"I'm going to take a bath. She should be awake soon."

"We'll be right there."

Blair walked out of her bathtub feeling warm and clean. She went to the living room to find Nate and Chuck watching ESPN. "Oh hello boys."

Chuck kissed her cheek. "Are you okay?"

She shrugged. "I feel bad for the man whose neck I snapped but he was scum anyway." When she touched him she saw his future and decided to spare the world that loser. "Besides…he shot my friend."

Nate rolled his eyes at her. "She's going to be sore for days."

"Look, it's not my fault she just froze like an idiot."

"How long has she been out?"

Blair shrugged. "Almost half an hour." She went over to the bar and poured them all drinks. She got Serena a martini for when she woke up.

Serena inhaled sharply and opened her eyes. She stared at the ceiling for a second and then looked around the room. "What happened?"

Blair looked at her. "You got shot in the heart."

She sat up suddenly. "What!?" She looked down at her chest and saw blood but no open wound.

Nate smiled at her. "You're okay."

Blair smiled at her and put her hand on her arm. She suddenly froze and her eyes widened. She was there for a few seconds then blinked again. Serena gave her a confused look. "You shocked me."

Chuck looked at her. "What did you see?"

Blair looked at them all. "Serena…and Nate…you guys are together?

…

Serena couldn't sleep. She got out of bed and walked a few flights up to the library. Her and Nate spent so much time there but she'd never really explored the wide variety of books.

She went to a history section and a book caught her eye. It was the history of the covens.

She opened the book and started reading. It was almost 6am when she was done reading. She sat perfectly still, taking in all the new things she'd seen. She was a lot stronger than she ever imagined. She was also one of six known turned vampires in all of the covens. There were also seven different covens; the one based in China was the largest. The European coven was the largest for centuries until it split into Western Europe and Eastern Europe in the 1910s.

But she didn't really are about all that. She pulled out her phone and ignored Nate's text. She dialed Blair's number. "Blair…could you come over please?"

Blair hopped out of her car 15 minutes later and told the driver he could go home for the day. She walked into Serena's room. "What is it?"

Serena handed her the book. "Chapter 8."

Blair opened the book to chapter 8. She read the chapter title and closed the book. "Oh honey…"

"What does it mean?"

Blair looked away. "You should really ask Nate."

"I'm asking you."

Blair briefly explained to her that some of their souls are reincarnated for generations. Those born with reincarnated souls often have abilities and a mate that they were born to be bonded with. Blair looked at Serena. "S…"

"Is your soul bonded to Chuck's?"

Blair couldn't help but smile. "Yes. I was actually born in Paris because my mom was a designer there but once she realized who I was…she sought him out and we came here. She was happy because she was raised in Massachusetts anyway and grew up in the North American coven. Chuck and I have loved each other our whole lives…but our souls have loved each other for much longer."

Serena smiled at her. "That must feel amazing. How many are you?"

"How many souls are reincarnated? I believe it's about two per coven each generation. It really depends how long the cycles are. We had three in ours and the European coven had one. That's how Chuck, Nate and I got so close."

"So who is Nate's…mate?"

"Her name is Isabel. She lives in London, that's where the Western European coven is based. She used to come in the summers when we were younger but their rivalry with the Eastern European coven got stronger and she stays home now. She has an ability to regulate people's moods, she can make some conflicts disappear all together just by making people feel calm."

"Nate and I have no future together."

Blair didn't know what to respond. She put her hand on Serena's.

"Thanks for telling me, B."

Blair nodded. "Sure. You're my best friend." She smiled at her. "You really should talk to Nate."

Serena nodded and walked out of the library and back to her room. She saw William walking down the hall towards her. "Serena, there's something I'd like to talk to you about."

…

"I've been calling you like crazy!" Nate walked into Serena's room.

She lay in her bed watching TV. "I turned my phone off."

"Why?" He opened the curtain. "It's so nice out, I thought we could have a picnic in central park."

She said nothing and started straight at the TV.

Nate walked over to the bed and kissed her shoulder.

Serena recoiled away from him. "Don't."

Nate gave her a dirty look. "Okay…are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

"I know about Isabel."

Nate didn't know what to say. He was quiet for a few seconds. "I was going to tell you, I just couldn't find the right time."

They sat silently for a few seconds. "Serena, that doesn't change anything between us. It doesn't change how I feel." He was getting frustrated that she wouldn't even look at him. He paced around the room. "Please…say something."

She got up suddenly and went over to him. "You know what I think, Nate? I think you took advantage of the fact that I know pretty much nothing about your stupid customs just so you could have someone to mess around with while whatever her name is gone!"

Nate couldn't believe what she was saying. "Serena, what the hell are you talking about!? That is not true!"

"I'm done being your whore on the side."

He had to stop himself from shaking some sense into her. "Stop! Stop talking like that. I'm in love with you."

She thought about her conversation with William earlier "Well, maybe there's a reason why I haven't said it back. I don't feel the same way." She regretted it as soon as she said it but it was too late to take it back.

Nate looked down at his chest because he was pretty sure there was something crushing it but he found nothing there. He turned and left her room quickly.

Serena closed the door behind him and immediately started hyperventilating. What was wrong with her? Why wouldn't Nate have told her? Did he actually mean that he loved her?

She buried her hands in her face and sobbed.

Nate ran down the stairs to the basement and down the passageway that led to his house. He walked past the elders' offices quietly.

"Nathaniel?"

He turned his head slightly and turned to see his grandfather looking at him. "Not now, okay?"

"Are you alright?"

He looked at him. "No! Okay!? I am not alright!"

"We can talk in my office." He noticed Nate hesitated. "Now."

Nate walked over even though he really wanted to leave. He sunk into the seat across from William. "I really don't want to talk about it."

"I am your grandfather, your mentor. You can talk to me. I know thinks between us have been tense lately."

He looked at him and felt tears sting his eyes. He refused to let them fall. "I've made a huge mistake…I've let you down."

"Everything has a solution."

Nate shook his head. "Not everything."

"Tell me."

Nate looked down at his lap. "I'm in love with Serena. I was ready to break my bond with Isabel, to give up leading this coven…but she doesn't feel the same way."

William thought carefully about how to approach this. "Tell me what I can do to help. If you'd like, we can send you to London right after school is over. Spending time with Isabel could be good, or she can come here since she's done with her studies. No pressure, but you haven't spent time with each other in a long time."

Nate nodded. Maybe he was just confused. Maybe he would feel something with Isabel. They were soul mates after all. "Okay." He was surprised his grandfather was being so calm. He expected to be whipped again. "That sounds okay."

"Okay, now get some rest. I will handle everything." He patted his shoulder.

…

Serena knew she needed to talk to Nate. She couldn't leave things the way they were. She heard a knock on her door and opened it quickly. "Oh…hi."

William Van der Bilt gave her a friendly smile. "Hello Serena."

"Come in."

He walked in and handed her an envelope. "It's a plane ticket to visit your family in California for a few days."

She looked at him. "I can go see my mom?"

He nodded. "Obviously you have to be very discrete…but I feel like you've earned it."

She smiled at him. "Wow…I don't know what to say. Thank you."

"There will be a car here to take you to the airport on Monday. He will also brief you on some general guidelines that you can say to minimize questions about why you haven't been home in so long."

"Okay." She hugged him tightly. "Sorry. I just…I really miss them."

He smiled. "I'll leave you to pack."

Serena picked up her phone and dialed Nate's number. She frowned when it went to his voicemail. "Hi Nate…it's me. I just, I hate the way we left things. I feel like an idiot. I'm gone for the weekend but we should talk when I get back. I have a lot to say." She hung up and dialed another number.

"Hey S! What's up?"

"Have you talked to Nate recently?"

"Yeah, he seemed really bummed. What happened? I only got to hear his side."

"Yeah I wish we could talk more but I'm leaving for the weekend. William is letting me visit my family?"

"He is? Letting you go all the way there by yourself?"

Serena didn't know what she meant. William wasn't the boss of her. "Why wouldn't he? But I'll be back Monday and I can tell you everything. I basically freaked out and said a bunch of stupid things I didn't mean."

"It happens."

"Anyway, I tried calling Nate but it went to voicemail."

"He's out hunting with Chuck. Said he needed to clear his mind."

"Oh. I gotta go but I will see you in a few days."

"Okay. Have a good trip! See you soon."

…

Nate looked in the mirror and straightened out the collar button down. He wore camel colored shoes, dark blue jeans, and a blue long sleeved button that matched his eyes. He ran his fingers through his hair quickly and glanced at his watch. He walked downstairs quickly and found his parents and William standing outside.

A black town car pulled up and Nate felt his stomach knot up out of nerves. The car stopped in front of them and he quickly stepped forward and waved the driver away. He opened the door and held out his hand.

A soft hand grabbed his hand and Isabel stepped out of the car. She wore tight black jeans and a white tank top. Nate gave her a smile and stepped back to look at her. "Isabel."

She gave him a smile. "Nate."

They stood there and stared at each other for a few seconds.

William stepped forward. "Isabel, welcome. I trust your trip wasn't too tiring?"

She shook her head. "It was quite lovely, thanks so much for sending your plane for me. You look well, Mr. Vanderbilt. My family says hello. Mr. and Mrs. Archibald, good to see you."

Anne kissed both her cheeks. "Nate will help you get settled in and then we will have dinner."

Nate grabbed her bags. "Yeah. I can show you to your room."

Isabel followed him quietly up the grand stairs of the coven. She slid her hands up the railings. "I can remember mattress surfing down these stairs. Remember that? Drove the ground keeper nuts."

He nodded and looked at her. "Yeah. You dislocated your arm and popped it back in like nothing. I thought you were the coolest girl ever after that."

"Oh I did that to impress you. It was aching for days."

He reached the door to her suite. It was a room with a living room, bedroom and bathroom. He frowned because it looked so similar to Serena's room. "Here you are. There are towels and everything in the bathroom. Blankets are in the closet if you need them."

"So what have you been up to?"

Nate shrugged. "Not much, really. High school…what about you?"

"Most people finish their school at 16 in London and then take tracks. I have been studying art history, I love it."

"We have some great galleries here. We should go check them out."

Isabel nodded. "Yeah, I would really like that."

"I'll let you rest. I will see you in a couple of hours for dinner."

"Okay. The room is beautiful, by the way."

Nate smiled and walked out of the door, his phone buzzed and he saw he had a voicemail from Serena. He walked a couple of blocks to clear his mind and then listened to it. He shook his head. "Bullshit."

He walked a bit more until he got to The Palace hotel. He let himself in and walked into Chuck's suite to find Blair sitting on the couch silently. "Hey."

Chuck walked into the room with a drink in each hand. He handed one to Blair and looked at Nate. "Hi."

He frowned. "Hey. What's up with her?"

Blair stood up and looked at him. "I've been having visions a lot lately…they're exhausting."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Maybe you should talk to the healer about it. He can try to give you something to control it."

"I did. He doesn't want to give me anything that may stunt them. I have to wait until I fully mature. Which isn't for another 6 months."

He nodded. He looked at Chuck…he was being slightly cold towards him. He usually couldn't wait to get a drink in his hand. "Well, I came to tell you guys that—"

Chuck cut him off. "Isabel is here. Thanks for the heads up, Nathaniel."

"Yeah…it just all happened so quickly. And I was trying to figure out how to deal with that while Serena is here but…I guess she's gone for the weekend so that buys me a couple of days. Wait, how did you guys know?"

Chuck looked over at Blair. "She saw it."

Nate looked at her. "What did you see?"

"Her getting out of a black town car in front of the coven. That's all. I saw this last night…when did she get here?"

"A little over an hour ago." He looked between them. "Are you guys mad at me or something?"

Blair took a sip of her drink. "You should've just left Serena alone…you're so stupid."

"What? Yeah, that's probably true. But she's the one who—"

"Oh stop. She lied to you!"

"What? Why would she lie to me?"

"Ask your grandfather."

Nate looked at her. "What are you talking about? My grandfather didn't even know about us until I went to him and told him."

Chuck smiled sarcastically. "Are you really that stupid?"

"Why the hell do you guys care anyway? Isabel is here and she's my soul mate. And I am going to be bonded to her and then take my grandfather's place. We will all be elders."

"Please get out. I need to get some sleep."

Chuck ignored Nate. "I am going to get you some blood, that will make you feel better."

"Fine, I'll see you guys later." Nate turned and left.


	6. Chapter 6

Nate knocked on Isabel's door. She opened it after a few seconds. "Hi there."

"Good morning."

"I thought we could go have lunch and check out some galleries."

"Great, I will grab my purse."

They'd gone to several galleries before Nate was starving. He looked at her. "Ready to eat?"

Isabel nodded. "Sure. Where to?"

"There's a place a block away that I go to all the time with Chuck and Blair."

"Oh, how are they, by the way? I haven't seen them."

"They're good. Blair doesn't feel very well so they've been staying in."

"Doesn't feel well?" They didn't get sick."

Nate shrugged. "I'm not sure what the deal is."

"I should probably get to know them. They are your best friends. Soon, they'll be my friends too."

Nate nodded silently as they took their seats. Serena and him had sat at this exact table before. He sat in the seat that Serena once sat in.

"So you're almost done with high school. You turn 18 soon…I turn 18 a month after that. Our families have been talking a lot about when our bonding ceremony will be. What do you think?"

Nate took a ship of his drink. "Whatever they think is best works for me."

She nodded. "I agree."

"Let's eat."

…

Serena hopped out of her cab and carried her suitcase up the stairs to her room. She almost ran into a pretty brunette when she turned the hall. "Oh, sorry."

"Oh, my fault."

Serena had no idea who she was. "I'm Serena."

She held out her hand. "Isabel. Pleasure to meet you."

Serena slowly shook it. Holy crap…was this THE Isabel? "Isabel…nice to meet you too." She quickly ran up the next flight up stairs and went into her room. She looked at the time and frowned. Nate, Chuck, and Blair would be at school for the next hour.

She jumped into the shower and got dressed then she stepped out and hailed a cab.

Classes had just been let out when she got there. She waited outside of the front entrance for Nate to walk out.

Nate was on his phone and looked up to see Serena. She walked toward him when she saw him and he turned around and walked back into the courtyard. "Nate…"

He turned and looked at her. "Hi. I can't really talk right now."

"I really need to talk to you."

"About what? I think we've said all we need to say to each other."

"No. Not even close. I made a mistake, okay? And I'm sorry."

"You know…it doesn't really matter anymore."

"What do you mean? I've been gone for 3 days."

"Yeah and I see everything clearly now. Isabel is here."

"I know. I met her. You said you didn't care about that. You said you wanted to be with me. Did you change your mind so quickly?"

"This is my destiny, Serena. She's my soul mate. I know you don't understand that but it's part of me and I can't change that. No matter how hot you are."

"Wow. Wow, Nate. What are you even saying? This is so much more than physical attraction."

Nate hated himself but shook his head anyway. "Not really. I'm sorry I mislead you."

Serena slapped him hard across the face. "Fuck you."

Nate watched as she walked away, he turned at bunch the pillar behind him so hard that a chuck of cement broke off.

…

Blair could hardly understand Serena between her sobs. "Then." Sob. "He said." Sob. "It was all." Nose blow. "Physical."

Blair could not believe what she was hearing. "Oh no he didn't."

Serena nodded and cried some more.

Blair grabbed her purse. "Sorry, S, I gotta go. You can stay here and I'll be back soon."

"Wait, where are you going?"

"I'm going to pay Nate a little visit."

"Wait, Blair…don't."

Blair ignored her and stormed out.

Nate looked up when he heard her door swing open. "Hey Blair."

"Don't hate Blair me! What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you being such a dick?"

"I…look, I know I didn't handle things with Serena very well."

"Understatement of the century!"

"Did you come here to yell at me?"

"Yes! But also, I'm just so confused. You love Serena. You should stand up to your grandfather and tell him what you want. You deserve to be happy."

"I can be happy with Isabel. Look, I was just being selfish before."

"So how does telling Serena you were only with here because she's a hot piece of ass fit into all this?"

"I just wanted her to stay away from me and it was the easy way out."

"Wow…I know what this is about. Serena hurt your feelings so you thought you'd get even, right? And it's all because you don't want to stand up to William. You're a coward."

Nate looked at her coldly. "Get out."

…

Chuck looked at Blair. "I really hate that you're in a fight with Nate. I feel like I have to pick sides."

"Um…what do you mean pick sides? You should be on my side."

"He's my best friend."

Blair stood up and scowled at him. "So what? I let you have sex with this." She pointed at herself.

He kissed her cheek. "Obviously I'm on your side babe but you guys should really talk and make up."

"All he does is hang out with Isabel. I am just so mad at him."

"She's leaving tomorrow."

"Whatever. He's the one who owes me an apology."

"You called him a coward!"

"Well, I wasn't wrong."

Chuck looked at her.

"Fine, fine. I'll talk to him."

…

"Serena…"

Serena turned to see Nate in the doorway of the library. "I was just leaving."

"No, don't. Look, I owe you an apology."

"You don't have to say anything."

"Look, obviously what I said before wasn't remotely true. And you know how I actually feel about you…but I have to make things work with Isabel. It's what I'm expected to do."

Serena nodded. "I understand."

Nate hugged her tightly. "Thank you."

He pulled away and kissed her lips softly. Serena broke the kiss after a couple of seconds. "Bye Nate."

…

Blair had been planning the perfect graduation party for months. Now it was only a couple of days away and she had so many details to finalize.

Chuck kissed her neck. "You're so tense."

"I know I just want it to be perfect."

"May I?"

Blair nodded. "Yes, please."

Chuck withdrew his fangs and bit into her neck. He sucked softly for a few seconds and pulled away. He licked his lips. "Delicious."

Blair grabbed his wrist and bit into it. She sucked greedily.

"Hey guys! Woah."

Blair pulled away to see Serena standing in the doorway. He wiped the blood from the edges of her lips. "Sorry."

"Were you guys…are you allowed to do that?"

Chuck almost laughed. "Uh…yeah. You should try it. It's amazing. Almost as good as sex."

Blair smiled. "But we're not really supposed to do it until we're 18. It's really intimate; they say it makes you feel attached to a person. Vampire blood imprints on each other."

"But if you have too much of it then it can poison you."

Serena smiled at them. "Got it. So…I came to help you put together the gift bags."

"Oh, right! Let's get started."

…

Serena had never had so much alcohol in her whole life. Their cells regenerated faster than humans so it took a lot more alcohol to make them feel buzzed.

She was finally feeling tipsy and laughing at everything happening around her. She took a seat at the bar and asked for a shot of tequila.

Nate walked over and stood next to her. "You're not drinking that alone are you?" He looked at the bartender. "I'll have one too, please."

Serena held the shot up to him and they both drank it at the same time. She winced at the taste. "That's disgusting."

Nate laughed. "Yeah, it is."

"How are you? Haven't seen you in a while."

"You're so beautiful. I actually get physical pain when I look at you. That's probably why I try my best to avoid you."

"Oh, right...because you think I'm hot, or whatever it was you said." She meant to say it as a joke but it came off as more bitter than she intended.

"I'm sorry about that. God, I'm an asshole. But I love you."

Serena smiled at him. "No you're not. I love you too."

"What?"

Serena looked at him. "What?"

"You just said you love me."

"So what? I thought that was obvious."

"You've never said it before." Nate shook his head at her. "Come here."

Serena was confused for a second but she followed him up the stairs and into an empty room. "Are you okay?"

"I just want to hear you say that again. Here where there isn't a bunch of other noise."

"Say what?"

"You know what."

Serena looked at him and suddenly felt sad. "I love you."

Nate pinned her against the wall and kissed her passionately.

Serena kissed him back and she felt his hands sliding her dress up. She broke their kiss. "Nate…don't –"

Nate gave her a confused look and kissed her lips again.

Serena turned her head. "We can't."

Nate pulled away and took her face in his hands. "Don't make me stop…please."

"We can't do this. You have a very serious girlfriend. And besides, it's not fair for either of us. It's just cruel. We should be moving on."

He moved to put an arm around her but she held her hands up to stop him. Nate felt angry suddenly. "What, I can't touch you at all?"

"No, you can't. Not anymore."

Nate was frustrated and ran his fingers through his hair. "Just ask me to be with you. Just say the word…I'd do it, you know. We could be together if you were willing to fight for us."

"That's not what I want."

Nate felt his head get cloudy, partly from having consumed so much alcohol but mostly because Serena was making any sense. He sat on the bed and thought for a second. "How can you say you love me and not want to be with me?" He looked up and saw she was gone. He lay back on the bed and closed his eyes.

…

ONE MONTH LATER

Nate woke up in the middle of the night shivering. He was freezing but covered in sweat. He kicked off his blanket and walked unsteadily to turn on the light. He walked to the bathroom and splashed water on his face. His eyes were red, his skin looked clammy and his lips were purple. "Mom…dad…" He coughed a bit and shivered some more. "Mom!" He stumbled out of his room and down the hall to where his parents slept.

His dad sat up when the door opened. "Nathaniel? Anne!"

Anne sat up too. "Honey, what's wrong? You look terrible."

"I feel terrible."

She got up and led him to the bed. "Lie down here, darling, lie down. I will call daddy."

William walked in the door less than 10 minutes later. "Nathaniel…how are you holding up?"

Nate looked up at him. "Am I dying?"

William chuckled. "On the contrary, happy birthday." He handed him a glass of blood. "Drink up, it's what your body is craving."

After gulping down three glasses, Nate felt him body stop shivering. "I thought I was supposed to mature into my powers…not feel like this. Is something wrong?"

William smiled at him. "No, son. This just means you're body is overwhelmed by your sudden increased abilities. Your muscles are expanding to allow for more oxygen to flow. Once your body accepts the transition, you're going to be the most powerful of us all."

Anne placed a warm cloth on his forehead. "You should feel all better for your party on Saturday." She kissed his cheek. Sleep.

Nate was going to remind him that he was in their bed but they all left and closed the door. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.

…

"Where the hell is Nate, it's his birthday!"

Chuck looked at Blair. "He's hibernating."

"I thought that was only for half a day. It's almost 8 pm. It's bad enough I had to wait till after school to open his present, now I have to wait until tomorrow?" She frowned at him.

Chuck smiled at her. "We could…wake him up?"

Blair nodded. "Yes! He's probably awake anyway, just being held hostage at his house."

Half an hour later, Chuck and Blair hopped out of a town car and walked into the Archibald residence. She turned the knob and found it was unlocked. "Hello?"

Blair let herself in. "Hello?" Chuck shrugged at her and they walked upstairs into his room. "Birthday boy?"

Chuck put a finger to his lips to get her to be quiet. He listened for breathing and heard someone steadily breathing down the hall. "Do you hear that?"

Blair listened for a second and followed the breathing. She opened the door to see Nate deep asleep on the big bed. He was in white boxers and nothing else. She held a box to him. "Nate…wake up. I brought your present."

Chuck held up the bag he was holding. "Me too. And mine is better."

They walked over to him. He looked so peaceful, all that moved was his chest slightly up and down as he breathed. "Woah." Blair touched his stomach lightly. "Have these abs always been here?"

Chuck rolled his eyes. "I guess. Whatever."

She poked his bicep. "Damn. Is this going to happen to you after you mature?"

"He doesn't look any different. And I already have those!"

Blair giggled. "Whatever. They just seem a little better defined, is what I'm saying." She shook him. "Nate!"

A throat cleared from the doorway. "He will only wake up naturally. You're wasting your time."

"Mr. Vanderbilt. Sorry to intrude…we just wanted to give Nate his birthday presents."

"You can give them to him at his party tomorrow night."

Chuck looked at him. "What is he's still sleeping then?"

"Nonsense, Charles. The normal hibernation time is from 10 to 24 hours."

Blair nodded and grabbed Chuck's hand. "See you tomorrow."

…

"Dad, it's been 36 hours. Are you sure there's nothing he can do?"

William shook his head. "He will wake up when he's ready."

"His birthday party starts in 4 hours. What if he's not awake then?"

"He will. Nobody has slept for 40 hours in the history of hour existence."

"What if something's wrong? Is it possible for the body to reject the transition?"

"Of course not. We were made for it."

"Well, I guess I can get his suit and everything ready for when he wakes up."

"That is a great idea." He kissed her forehead. "He will be up any minute now."

Nate smiled as Serena grabbed his hand and led him into the ocean. It was nighttime and they were the only ones on the beach. "You want to go swimming now?"

She kissed his lips. "Not exactly swimming. But I did want to give you your birthday present." She turned around so he could undo the string of her bathing suit.

He laughed. "Wow…you even wrapped it for me." He held up a hand and pulled on the string…and then his eyes open suddenly.

He stretched out his hands and his legs for a couple of seconds before sitting up. He found it weird that he was sleeping in his parents' room. Then he remembered feeling like shit…and it was his birthday. He was 18! He got up suddenly and looked at his hands. He felt awesome but not much different.

"Nate! You're finally awake."

"What do you mean finally?"

"You've been sleeping for 38 hours."

"What? I slept through my birthday?"

"Technically, yes. But your party starts in less than two hours!"

"Oh. Okay."

"Your outfit is laid out on your bed. Shower and come down stairs."

Nate was rinsing off his hair when he looked up and the water froze around him. He only thought about it happened for half a second and it did. He looked down and let the water come down on his head again. He turned the knob and turned the water off.

Nate couldn't really explain how he felt; he felt more in tune with his own body, more in control. He felt sure of each step he took, he changed into his suit quickly and walked downstairs.

"Ah, there you are. Happy birthday, son!"

Nate smiled and hugged his mom and his dad. "Thanks."

Anne held out a box to him. "A gift from us to you."

Nate opened the Cartier box to reveal a platinum watch with black leather straps. "Oh, it's this is so nice. I love it."

Anne smiled at him. "It's engraved with your initials in the back. Take care of it, only 50 of these were made it the world."

"I will." He took it out of the box and put it on carefully.

"We should get going. You don't want to miss your own party."

…

Chuck saw Nate walk in the room and made a beeline for him. "Nathaniel!"

Nate smiled at his best friend. Chuck hugged him tightly for a second. "Happy birthday." He looked around. "You'll get your present later."

Blair was right behind him. "Nate! Happy birthday!" She wrapped her arms around him tightly. Nate hugged her back and kissed her cheek. "Thanks, Blair."

"How do you feel?"

Nate gave her a brilliant smile. "I feel great."

Chuck slapped his back. "That's good to hear. We thought you were in a coma. I was like, fuck, that's gonna be me in 2 weeks."

"Not two weeks. Ten days!" Blair had been counting down Chuck's birthday for months.

Nate went around the room and made small talk with his guests.

He finally decided he'd been polite enough and went to join Blair and Chuck at the bar. "Where is Serena?"

Chuck looked at Blair and she frowned. "She's not coming."

"Oh."

Blair changed the subject. "Guys, high school is over. In 6 days we'll be graduating."

Nate sipped his drink. "It's crazy…now we have to become adults."

Blair thought about college. A lot of them didn't attend many classes because the coven took up so much of their time but they were enrolled anyway, for appearances sake. "We're enrolled at Columbia right? I would like to go to some classes in the fall."

Nate nodded. "That's a good idea. Anything to put off my fate of becoming my grandfather shadow." He was expected to begin preparing for his role as the coven leader; it was more than a full time job.

"And Isabel will be 18 soon. Are you guys going to be bonded right away?"

Nate shrugged. "My grandfather wants it to be an alliance between our covens. He will probably want it to happen as soon as possible. What about you two?"

"We are having disagreements. I want to wait a year, he wants it to happen over the summer."

Chuck gave her a smirk. "We'll see who wins."

"You should get me a ring and then we'll talk."

"There are no engagement rings for bonding ceremonies!"

Blair rolled her eyes and took a sip of her drink. She noticed how quiet Nate was. "Are you alright?"

Nate smiled. "I'm good." He looked at Blair and saw her eyes floated to the entrance of the room. He turned to see Isabel walking towards them. "Isabel…I didn't know you'd be here."

"Surprise! I couldn't miss your 18th birthday."


	7. Chapter 7

**Thanks for all the nice reviews! I love reading them. Enjoy! xo**

...

"But we just graduated two days ago, why are you leaving so soon?"

Serena smiled at her. "I want to be lying on a beach in Nice."

Blair crossed her arms. "I want to come with you!"

"Chuck's birthday is in two days! You can't miss it."

"So you leave tomorrow afternoon?"

"Yes. But you can come meet me. I will not be completely disconnected. I just need to get away from here."

Blair understood. With Isabel here, the coven was stifling. Serena had spent the last week living with her. "Okay. I will come though! When will you be back?"

Serena shrugged. "I'm not sure. I don't know if there's much for me here."

"What does that mean?"

Serena looked at her. "Except for you, obviously. But…it's so hard seeing Nate with Isabel and I'm just here making him feel guilty every time he looks at me. I was thinking, how cool would it be to go to school in Paris?"

Blair frowned. "But Paris is part of the Western European coven. I thought you wanted to get away from Isabel."

"Well, that won't be a problem. She'll be here."

"Fine, I guess I can't talk you out of it. How do you want to spend your last day?"

…

Nate walked into the Waldorf's penthouse and up to Blair's room. He knocked then let himself in.

Blair looked at him. "I'm almost ready!"

Nate nodded. "No rush." He looked around.

"Serena isn't here."

He frowned at her. "Where is she?"

"She's back at the coven, she had to pack."

"Pack? For what?"

Blair grabbed her purse and tried to sound casual. "She is going to France, I think."

"For how long."

"She didn't say. Honestly, I doubt she will be back any time soon."

They were supposed to spend the day shopping for Chuck's birthday present. It was unlike Blair to leave things at the last minute but she'd bought him 6 different presents over the past few months and nothing was perfect. "I'll meet you there. I gotta go say bye."

Nate hopped out of his town car and walked quickly up to the coven and up to Serena's room. He knocked and then let himself in. "Serena?" He went into the common room and to her room. Maybe if he hurried he could catch her at the airport. He turned and walked out of the room and almost bumped into William.

Nate looked at him. "I was just…"

William looked at him disapprovingly. "She's already left for the airport."

Nate turned to leave but William grabbed his shoulder to stop him. "It's too late."

"But—"

"It's for the best, Nate. You both need some space."

…

Serena took a sip of her lemonade and stretched out on a lounge chair on the beach in Nice. She wished Eric could join her, but he was on a trip with all of his friends. She'd seen him and her mom during graduation but they didn't get much time to themselves.

William had arranged to get her all the blood she needed so she was set with that but she still felt so empty and alone. She looked down at her ring and frowned. She was dreading the day Isabel turned 18; she knew it wouldn't be long for her and Nate to be bonded after that.

When the sun set, Serena set out to explore the city. She'd never really traveled by herself before and it was hard to be motivated to get out of bed but she put on make up, a tight pair of jeans and a white tank top and went out.

She stared bitterly at all the couples walking around her hand in hand. She turned a corner and walked into a street where there were a bunch of bars and clubs, she noticed one that everyone seemed to walk past. There wasn't a bouncer, just a door with a black sign that said Eclipse. She shrugged and walked over to the door, she pulled it open to find a big man dressed in all black standing in the way. "Uhh…hi."

He gave her a confused look. "Are you lost?"

"Um, no, not really. I was just –"

"Is that your amulet?"

"My what?"

He looked at her like she was an idiot. He snatched her hand for a second and then stepped out of the way.

She hesitated before going in but decided to anyway. She walked through the dark hall and turned to see a beautiful open room with a big bar on the far end and combination of tables and couches, and about 50 people say around drinking and conversing.

She walked for the bar and felt heads turning her way. She looked behind her and saw people gaping at her. Jeez. She went to the bar and stood in front of the bartender. "Hi."

He looked started to see her. "Hi. Are you lost?"

"People keep asking me that. Maybe I should go." She grabbed the purse she set down and turned to leave.

"No, no no. I was just…well mostly this place is for regulars…but if you found this place then you're welcome here."

Serena cautiously took a seat in the bar. "You're…Australian?"

"Yes. American, correct?"

"Yes."

"What would you like?"

Serena looked at the expansive selection. They had so many bottles she'd never seen before.

A voice came from beside her. "How about the house drink?"

She turned to see a guy a bit older than her, looking at her expectantly.

"Okay, that sounds fine."

The bartender nodded and started making her the drink. She turned to the guy next to her. "You're American?"

"Yes. And you are too, which confuses me because we've never met before."

She looked at him. "I don't know what you mean. It is a big country."

He chuckled. "But it's a relatively small coven. So…who are you?"

Serena's eyes widened. He knew what she was? William was going to kill her. "I'm Serena. How do you know about the coven?"

He held out a ring to her to show the same crest she was on her ring. "I'm part of it. How is old William these days?"

She took her drink from the bartender and sipped it. "Oh my god…this is incredible…wait is this…"

"Blood? Yes. You're welcome." He looked at her. "So did you join from another coven or what? But your American accent is perfect…is there another coven on the west coast? I knew it! I left three years ago and never looked back."

"What? Um…no. I wasn't born like this. In fact, I've only been like this for about a year."

Carter looked at her incredulously. "What…you mean you were turned? And William let you live in the coven?"

Serena wasn't sure what was so confusing. She did know that turning humans was extremely rare. "Yes."

"May I ask who turned you?"

Serena looked away and took a sip of her drink. "Nate. Nate Archibald."

Carter looked like his eyes were going to pop out of his head. "What? Nate? Nate Archibald? Golden Boy Nate…he broke the rules? How did it happen?"

Serena was unsure why she was telling her life story to a stranger…maybe she was just glad to have someone to talk to. "I was in a bad car accident and I wasn't going to make it. He happened to be in the area and heard the crash and saw me and saved my life."

Carter was still gaping at her. "Wow…I guess I missed a lot. Well it's a pleasure to meet you Serena."

Serena realized she didn't know his name. "And you are?"

"I'm Carter. Carter Baizen. I'm a bit of an outsider."

"How come?"

He shrugged. "Not a huge fan of rules."

She gave him a smile. "So what is this place?"

"A place we can come and relax. Only our kind can see the sign but there are some humans that come here every now and then."

"Humans? Who know about us?"

Carter nodded. "If you fall in love with a human and decide to tell him or her. They may accept who you are and you are able to lead a relatively normal life together. Until they die about half a century before, of course. Anyway, we don't discriminate."

"So where do you live?"

He shrugged. "Anywhere I want. I love to travel and learn to do things. I was in pilot school in Berlin for a couple of years and I just moved to Italy to work at a vineyard. I heard about this get together and decided to come to Nice for the weekend."

"There are alerts about these kind of things?"

"Yeah, there are dozens a year all over the world. It's a good chance for the more loosely affiliated of us to get to know each other. So what about you? How did you hear about this?"

"I didn't. I mean…I just happened to be here, which I know is unbelievable but I didn't even know there were vampires that didn't live in covens."

He laughed because it was such a ridiculous idea. "I have to go, but what are you doing tomorrow?"

"Um…nothing. Why?"

"I want you show you the city. Carter Baizen style."

…

Serena had just finished getting dressed when there was a knock on her door. She opened it to find Carter smiling at her. "Good morning." He handed her a tiny espresso cup. "Wasn't sure if you were a coffee person or not."

"Morning. And yes, thank you." She took a small sip. "You're just in time." She closed the door behind her and followed him down to the lobby. She finished her cup and put it on the trolley before they exited the hotel. "So where to?"

"Let's go see the coast." He walked over to a motorcycle. "I would offer you a helmet but you don't really need it." He smiled at her and swung his leg around the seat. "Ready?"

Serena took a second to put her hair up and then climbed in behind him. "Ready."

"Hang on." He waited until she grabbed on to him before taking off.

Sunday night rolled around and Carter sat at table near the water. Serena smiled as she took her seat across from him. "Do you really have to go?"

"Yeah…I can't stay here forever." He reached over and put his hand over hers. "Come with me."

"What? We don't even know each other."

He shrugged. "What better way to get to know each other than by living in a cottage in the Italian countryside?"

Serena looked at him in silence.

"I've had a great time hanging out this weekend. You're on vacation, so you're looking for new places to explore right? Besides, I'm not expecting anything, if that's what's holding you back."

Serena smiled at him. She could feel her attraction to him but they hadn't so much as kissed, which made the idea of being with him so much more exciting. "Okay. For a few days."

"Awesome. Our train is at 10am tomorrow. Now, let's eat. I hear the mussels here are amazing."

…

Carter opened the door to find Serena wearing an apron in the kitchen. He gave her a confused look. "Are you lost?"

"Oh, shut up. I made lasagna!"

"You did?"

She nodded. "Well…I had some help from the woman next door. She brought us pastries too! Are you hungry?"

Carter looked over her shoulder. "Yeah, sure that looks great. I'm gonna go wash my hands."

Serena served both of them plates and poured some wine. Carter took the seat across from her. "Thanks. I didn't realize you were so domestic."

She rolled her eyes and took a bite. She was relieved that it was actually delicious. Carter nodded in appreciated. "So good."

After they finished eating and cleared their plates he put on his shoes again. She frowned at him. "You're leaving?"

"Yeah. I'm thirsty so I'm going to go hunting. Would you like to come?"

"I have blood bags."

He shook his head at her. "Oh, you're so fancy with your pre-packaged blood."

She pretended to pout at him. "Well, it's just so much more practical. You're welcome to them."

He feigned disgust. "I like mine fresh. I'll be back soon."

Serena walked over to him silently and kissed him. She pulled away and turned around but he pulled her back and kissed her deeply. After a few seconds, she pulled away and licked her lips. "That was our first kiss."

Carter smiled at her. "And hopefully not our last. What was I doing again?"

She laughed. "You're going to hunt. Go. I'll see you when you get back."

…

Serena kept tossing and turning until she gave up and walked down the stairs to watch tv on the couch. She heard footsteps a few minutes later. "Is everything okay?"

She smiled at Carter. "I just couldn't sleep. You?"

"Yeah. Same. What is this?"

"It's some Italian soap opera. I don't really get it but it's entertaining."

Carter grabbed a handful of her popcorn. "Well, I'm here now."

"How long ago did you leave the coven? Why?"

"Hmm…I guess I left right after I matured…so about three years ago. My parents are on the council and I'm their only son. You can imagine how well that went over. We haven't spoken much since. I guess I didn't feel like living in a dictatorship. I wanted to be my own person."

"It's not a dictatorship."

"You were probably on William Vanderbilt's good side. He can be very unpleasant."

Serena couldn't help but laugh. "You couldn't be more wrong. He dislikes everything about me."

"Really? I can't imagine that."

Serena looked down at her lap. "He didn't approve of me and Nate being together."

Carter was confused for a second. "You and Nate were together? But doesn't he have a mate."

"Yes. I didn't know that when we first started seeing each other, but I wouldn't take it back. We fell in love and then…well, obviously it didn't work out. Do you not have a mate?"

He shook his head at her. "No. Well…I did once. Her name was Anna. She killed herself when we were 13. She had a very troubled soul."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"Well, this took a dark turn, didn't it? I gotta say, I never liked Nate much. For one thing, they all hate me."

Serena smiled at him. She knew exactly who he meant by 'they'. "They're great. Blair is my best friend now." Serena suddenly remembered to check her e-mail. "She's turning 18 soon. If I miss her party, she'll kill me."

Carter frowned. "You're going back to New York?"

Serena nodded. "Well, I can't stay here forever. This has been so fun but it's not the real world."

Carter kissed her cheek. "I'm going back to bed."

"You're so quiet today."

Carter looked up from his bowl of grapes. "Am I?"

Serena nodded. "Is it because of our conversation last night?"

He shook his head. "No."

Serena smiled. "Good, because I'm here now." She walked over and stood in front of him.

He placed his hands on her waist and smiled. "Yes, you are." He pulled her in and kissed her softly.

Serena leaned into his arms and deepened the kiss for a few seconds before pulling away. She held her hand out to him. "Let's go to bed."

Carter woke up to the sun hitting his face. He turned to see a naked Serena sleeping comfortably next to him. He kissed her cheek and left her a note. '_Went into town to get groceries. Will be back soon to make breakfast._'


	8. Chapter 8

**Enjoy!**

...

Blair paced up and down the hallway. "I don't know, Chuck. Please don't pressure me."

"Babe, that is the last thing I want to do. But I also don't want you to be too late to your party."

She rolled her eyes and settled on a pair of silver heels. She twirled around. "How do I look?"

He kissed her hand softly. "Breathtaking."

She blushed. "Oh, stop. I'm ready."

He held out his arm to her. "Shall we?"

She took his arm and they stepped onto the elevator and went down to the lobby. They took the short car ride to the Palace hotel, and Chuck quickly stepped out and held his hand out for her. Blair took his hand with a smile and they walked past the revolving door and to the elegantly decorated back room. All heads turned when Blair walked in. She heard a few "Happy birthdays" and started making small talk with different people.

She finally reached Nate, who stood quietly sipping his drink next to Isabel. Isabel kissed both of Blair's cheeks. "Happy Birthday." She excused herself to talk to someone else.

Nate grinned at her. "Happy birthday, you old fart." He handed her a flat long box. "Open it."

She smiled at him. "Oh, you shouldn't have." She opened the box to reveal a beautiful diamond and emerald bracelet. "Wow. I don't know what to say. It's gorgeous, Nate. Must have cost a fortune."

He hugged her tightly. "I know the way to your heart is through expensive gifts."

She laughed and rolled her eyes. "Chuck, look." She held the box up to him.

"Wow, nice." He took it out of the box and fastened it around her wrist. "Looks even better on you."

Nate nodded in agreement. "Cheers. To us all being fully grown, or whatever." They clicked glasses and took a sip of their drinks. In unison, they all turned their heads towards the entrance just in time to see a beautiful blonde enter the room. Blair smiled widely. "Serena is here!"

Serena spotted Blair making her way towards her and quickly made her way to her. They hugged tightly. "B, happy birthday!"

"S, it's so good to see you. You look great! I love your tan."

"Thanks. You look gorgeous. Wow. I missed you!"

Blair hugged her again. "I missed you too. I can't wait to catch up. You have got to tell me everything."

Serena nodded and pulled a box out of her purse. "This is part one of your gift."

Blair opened it and smiled at her. "Mmmmm…macarons." She said in a perfect French accent. "Mon prefere. Merci."

She smiled at her. "Wait, till you get part two! Now…let's go visit the bartender."

Serena had been avoiding Nate all night. He was mostly with Isabel and kept looking at her but hadn't managed to make his way to her. Serena looked at him bitterly and took a sip of her drink. "May I have this dance?"

She turned to see Carter looking handsome in a charcoal suit. "Carter. What are you doing here?"

She shrugged. "It's time I came to visit. Besides, I wanted to prolong our vacation together."

She took his hand and he led her to the dance floor. "Have you seen your parents?"

He nodded. "Yes, they were happy to see me, believe it or not. They're to your left talking to Bart Bass right now." He spun her around so she could see better.

"Ah, you have your mother's eyes."

"May I cut in?"

Serena looked at Nate and then at Carter. Carter shook his head. "No."

Serena frowned. "Carter…it's okay."

Carter kissed her lips. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

Nate grabbed Serena's hand and pulled her to him gently. "Hi."'

Serena dance with Nate and looked over his shoulder to avoid his gaze. "Hi." She could tell he was mad and she didn't want to deal with it.

"How do you even know Carter? That guy's a prick."

"We met in Nice, we've been hanging out a lot."

"I see that." They danced in silence for a few seconds. "I really missed you. I had no idea where you were, you didn't respond to any of my e-mails or texts."

"I didn't know what to say. I thought you and Isabel needed some time. I thought that as soon as she turned 18 you guys would be—"

Nate interrupted quickly. "We're not."

"Why?"

"You know why."

Serena shook her head. "You should just get it over with. For both our sakes."

She tried to pull away but Nate held her in place. "Please. The song is almost over. Did you miss me?"

"You know the answer to that already, Nate."

"Why does he think he can just kiss you like that?"

The song ended but he kept holding on to her. "I like Carter. He's a breath of fresh air and he's single, which is a plus."

Nate looked hurt and stepped away from her. "Good to see you, Serena."

Carter was by her side as soon as Nate left. She gave him a dirty look and walked away from him. "That was a nice stunt you pulled."

"You mean the kiss? Oh come on, don't tell me you're mad."

She turned to him. "Why are you here, Carter? Is it to baby sit me around Nate?"

He looked at her in silence. "Not entirely."

"I'm really tired. I'm going to say bye to Blair and go to sleep. I'll see you later."

"Serena wait—" He frowned and watched her leave.

…

Serena woke up to a text message for brunch at Blair's. She replied immediately "Can't wait!"

She quickly got dressed and headed to the Waldorf's penthouse. "Blair! Where are you? I have your second present."

Blair smiled and gave her a hug. She took the box from her and opened it. "Oh my god. Louboutins!? I love them!"

Serena smiled. "I knew you would. What's for brunch?"

"Um, go in the kitchen and find out. I was actually just leaving, bye!"

"Bye? What? I thought you texted me to come eat with you."

"Just go in the kitchen."

Serena frowned and walked to the kitchen. "Hi."

Nate smiled at her. "Hey. Sorry, I made Blair text you for me."

"What do you want Nate?"

"Just to share a meal with you. It's not even dinner, because I didn't want to scare you off. I brought your favorite waffles…"

"Fine."

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Serena told him all about her time in Europe. She left everything with Carter out so he wouldn't feel bad. "What about you? What have you been up to?" She grabbed both of their plates and took them to the sink.

Nate followed her with their cups and forks. "Uhh…honestly things here have been pretty boring. I have been sitting in on a lot of meetings with my grandfather because he wants me to take on more responsibility in the coven. I am enrolled in Columbia for the fall."

She smiled. "We're all going to school together, huh? Fun times."

He grabbed her hand. "I'm really glad you're back."

She hugged him tightly. "Me too."

After three hours of watching tv on the couch and talking, Nate started getting calls from his grandfather.

"Are you going to get that?"

He shook his head. "It's not important."

She curled up against his chest. "I wish we could stop time and stay like this forever."

He laughed. "I can! Literally. But only for a few minutes."

She laughed too. "Right. You freak." She let out a sigh and closed her eyes.

Nate kissed her forehead and let his eyes close too.

….

"Nathaniel." Nate opened his eyes to see his grandfather giving him a disapproving stare.

Serena also opened her eyes and immediately jumped off him. She cleared her throat. "We weren't…we were just –"

"It doesn't matter. Nate, I will be waiting in the car outside. You have one minute."

Nate nodded his head and started putting his shoes on. They'd been asleep for hours. "I'm sorry, I have no idea why he is here."

He gave her a kiss. "I have to go but let's talk later, okay?"

She nodded and kissed him back for a second. "Okay."

Nate stepped onto the elevator and went down to the lobby and out the revolving doors. William sat inside a black town car with Isabel. Nate frowned at them. "Hey. What's up?"

Isabel smiled at him. "What do you mean what's up? You're grandfather was just telling me you decided on a date! I can't believe in exactly one week we'll be bonded." She reached over and squeezed his hand as he put on his seat belt.

The car drove off. "Oh. Wow, that is soon." He sat quietly as the car drove down 5th avenue then stopped. They all hopped out and Nate followed. She turned to them. "Well, you guys can go get your suit fitted and I'll be looking at dresses here." She kissed his cheek and walked into Saks.

Nate turned to his grandfather. "A little warning would have been nice."

William looked at him. "I thought it would be a happy surprise for both of you."

Nate shook his head. "Don't lie to my face. You only did this because Serena is back."

"Perhaps. And after what I just saw, it was the right move. Now come on, the tailor is waiting."

…

Blair and Serena sat in Chuck's living room drinking martinis. Chuck arrived with another drink for each of them. "Oh, you're still not done with those?"

Blair and Serena looked at each other and chugged the rest of their drink. The doorbell rang and Chuck rolled his eyes because his housekeeper was gone. "I guess I'll get it."

He returned a few seconds later with an envelope in his hand. "It's addressed to both of us, Blair."

Blair got up and went over to him. "Let's open it." She handed him her drink and opened the envelope to see a beautiful gray and cream invitation. "Nate and Isabel are having their bonding ceremony on Saturday."

Serena looked at her. "This Saturday? As in 6 days from now!?" For some reason, she felt like they had more time. "Wow."

"I'm sorry, S."

She shook her head. "I better go"

Serena got home to find the same envelope in front of her door. She frowned at is and was extremely grateful that she at least she could cry in her own apartment and not be stuck in the coven. She picked up the phone and dialed Nate's number.

Nate picked up after one ring. "Hello?"

"Hi."

Nate held the phone closer to him. "Hi. I'm glad you called."

"I got my invitation to your ceremony. Why didn't you tell me it was coming up so soon?"

"I didn't know. It was a surprise for me too. When William showed up at Blair's yesterday, that's what he wanted me for."

"Oh. And how are you feeling about it?"

"I'm not sure. I can't really think of it too much without feeling miserable. Are you going?"

"No. Do you want me there?"

"No. That would make it even harder."

"I should get to sleep," she said after a few seconds of silence.

"Can we meet?"

"Nate, we shouldn't."

"I know but I need to see you."

Serena thought about it for a second. "Okay. I can show you my new place."

…

Nate smiled and wrapped his arms around Serena's waist and kissed her hair. "Good morning."

She pressed a button on her Keurig to make him coffee. "Morning." She turned and kissed him.

He looked her up and down; she wore nothing except his white button down.

"Nice outfit."

She looked at him in his boxers. "You don't look so bad yourself."

Nate grew more and more panicked as Saturday approached. He tried to push his thoughts to the back of his mind and enjoy the time he had left with Serena. It was Thursday morning and he'd been feeling worse and worse as the week went by. In the mornings, he would follow William around for meetings and then Isabel would drag him around to pick flowers and color schemes for the reception. As soon as he got the chance, he would ignore his phone and meet up with Serena and spend all night with her. It was an awkward situation, Isabel and William both knew where he disappeared to but neither of them seemed to care much.

He kissed Serena's cheek. "Want to go have breakfast somewhere?"

"Sure. Let's invite Chuck and Blair."

Nate nodded and put his coffee down. "But first…" He unbuttoned her shirt and leaned forward to kiss her.

…

Nate and Serena arrived at the restaurant an hour later. Nate intertwined his fingers with Serena's and led her to the table he knew Blair loved. "Hey guys."

Chuck smiled at them. "Sup?"

Serena took a seat next to Blair and kissed her cheek.

After about an hour, Nate's phone started ringing non-stop. He ignored the first few times and then decided he needed to face his reality. "I should go."

Chuck nodded. "Go. Breakfast is on me."

"Thanks." He turned to Serena. "I'm sorry…"

Serena nodded. "I understand."

He kissed her lips. "Can I see you later?"

"Yeah, I'll see you later."

Blair looked at Serena sadly. "So are you guys enjoying the time you have left?"

"Yeah, I suppose so. I know it must seem so stupid and I should just back off but it is so hard to let him go. I didn't expect it to be this difficult."

Chuck shook his head. He felt so bad for both of them. "It's not like he's going to forget all about you after Saturday. You guys can still see each other and we can keep doing things like this."

Blair gave him a look. "Are you kidding me? No way. Serena deserves a lot more than just being someone's mistress…even if it is Nate. Serena, you know that, right?"

Serena nodded. "Yes. I know that. I really just don't want to talk about it, okay?"

"Fine. Can we have a round of shots?"

Chuck looked at her. "It's 11 in the morning. But okay." He waived the waiter over immediately.

…

Nate walked into the room where the reception was going to be to find his mother, his grandfather, and Isabel all standing in the center of the room. They all turned to him as he approached.

Anne frowned at him. "We've been calling you since 9."

Nate gave her a dirty look. They were lucky he'd shown up at all. "What do you guys even need me for? I am fine with whatever."

Isabel rolled her eyes. "Well, we're pretty much done anyway. How is Serena doing?" She walked away without waiting for a response.

William gave him a stern look. "Can we speak alone?"

Nate nodded and towards the exit. "Honestly, whatever you have to say, I don't want to hear it."

"I couldn't care less whether you want to hear it or not, I will talk and you will listen."

Nate was suddenly furious. "No! I talk and YOU listen. I am doing everything you ask of me. Nothing more, nothing less. I am sitting in on meetings, getting to know the council, and in two days I am going to be bonded to Isabel. I am going to spend the rest of my life with her and take your place as coven leader. Then, I will have a child of my own so that our lineage continues. What more do you want from me? I am giving you my life."

William was silent for a few seconds. "Elder Maximilian has summoned you. We will meet with him tomorrow."

Nate was shocked. Elder Maximilian lived in a secluded area of the coven; he was the oldest and most powerful of them all. In older centuries, he would have been their healer and spiritual guide but as time went on, less and less people believed in his abilities. Still, it would be foolish of anyone to not acknowledge his wisdom and even more foolish to not go to him if you were to be called upon. "Did you speak to him about me?"

William shook his head. "Not at all. I haven't come face to face with him in months."

"Then why?"

"I do not know. I guess we will find out tomorrow. Now, go to Isabel and pretend to be interested in centerpieces."


	9. Chapter 9

Nate spent all of Friday morning with Serena and then left to meet with his grandfather in his study. "Are you ready?"

William nodded. "Are you?"

Nate nodded. He noticed a box of chocolates in his hand. "What are those?"

"A gift. He is very fond of them, as I recall from years ago."

"Where are we going? Where does he even live?"

"In the coven, of course."

"Yeah but where?"

William led the way up the stairs. "His living quarters can only be accessed from the library."

"What?"

"There's a hidden passageway behind one of the bookshelves. He wanted it that way."

Nate was mortified. Him and Serena spent a lot of time in the library doing some things he never wanted anyone else to know about. Was the elder angry with him for disregarding such a sacred tradition to them? He was suddenly terrified. If William could punish him in terrible ways, he was sure elder Maximilian would do much worse.

William entered the library and came to a stop in front of the bookshelf against the far end of the room. He pulled three books from the shelf like levers and the bookshelf began to creek. He pushed it firmly and it opened like a door to reveal a passageway.

Nate stood frozen at the entrance. His grandfather wouldn't let him be killed, right? But the elder was a lot stronger than William. William looked at him. "Nathaniel?"

Nate managed to move his legs and followed him down a long hallway that led to a beautiful area with couches and a fireplace and lots of books. Nate expected it to be dark and gloomy but the sun lit up the room beautifully.

William looked uncomfortable. "Uh…I guess we just wait here."

After a minute, they heard footsteps approach and a strong looking man with all white hair appeared in the room. "William." He walked over to them and gave William a strong handshake.

He turned to Nate. Nate looked him in the eye. He was expecting a decrepit old man but for being so old, he looked incredible. Nate realized no one actually knew how old he was. "Sir."

"Nathaniel Archibald. I haven't seen you since you were learning how to walk."

Nate smiled and shook his hand. "I'm sorry I don't remember."

"Come. I have something I would like to talk to you about."

Nate followed him immediately and William started to follow but Maximilian turned to him. "You wait here."

Nate couldn't help but smile. Finally, William took orders instead of giving them for a change. He was led up a narrow staircase and into a dark rook with a large wooden desk and paintings. There was a small window but covered with thick curtains. "I had no idea this place existed."

He smiled at him. "That's the idea. I value my privacy."

"If you don't mind me asking, how do you feed? Do you keep your own blood bags here? And what about other food?"

He shook his head. "I don't eat food, my diet consists of animal blood exclusively. I hunt in the forest." He thought for a second. "Though, I do drink tea and juices because I enjoy the taste. I especially a good scotch."

"That must be exhausting. New York City doesn't exactly make that accessible."

He looked intrigued by Nate. "Well, I hunt once a week. This window here is my way in and out of the building. I am a very skilled climber."

Nate took the seat opposite him. "You're able to survive on an all-blood diet and only eat once a week!? That's incredible."

"Well, I do purge myself once Monday comes around, believe me. Moose are my favorite now. But when I was your age, there were still plenty of bison in America. You wouldn't believe how delicious they were and vicious in the most strange way. One second they would be asleep and the next they'd be ramming their horn into you arm. I was always fascinated by their unpredictability."

Nate couldn't even imagine how different the world was when he was growing up. Nate watched him closely as he poured two cups of tea and handed him a cup. Nate took a small sip and it was delicious.

He took a seat across from him. "You know, Nathaniel-"

"You can call me Nate. My grandfather calls me Nathaniel." Nate didn't know why he said that but he immediately wished he didn't. Why would he interrupt the Elder?

"Okay, Nate. I have lived a long life, lived some beautiful moments and saw some terrible wars. I was 20 years old when the First World War broke out. My family was on vacation in Germany and I fell in love with a girl named Maria. Back then, I didn't know that this was to be my fate." Nate must have looked confused because he explained. "See, though I live to be older than most I was never able to have my own family. My bond was only to the coven and I would never be allowed to marry or have children. But anyway, as the war escalated it was becoming impossible for me to visit her from America and I feared for her life. Of course, where there's a will there's a way so I went for her a couple of years later, turned her, and brought her back to America with me."

"My father realized what I had done and led me to the coven's courtroom and forced me to watch her burn the very next day. " He looked at him. "I know what you're thinking. How could I have let that happen?"

"Back then, rebellion wasn't an option. And my father was a very powerful council member. But it was mostly because I was being restrained but also because I didn't think he would do that to his own son. Even when I saw her brought out, I didn't think he would go through with it. I remember that day like it was yesterday."

Nate was speechless. He couldn't imagine that happening to Serena.

"But that was a long time ago. I am telling you this story because I want to know why I called you here. I called you here because I want to show you your future."

Nate suddenly felt bitter. He already knew his future. "Okay. How is that possible?"

He held out his hands to him. "May I?"

Nate nodded and he put his hands on Nate's temples. "Close your eyes. You're going to fall into a deep sleep."

…

Nate opened his eyes and looked around the room. Maximilian stood admiring a painting near the entrance of the room. "You should go to bed now."

Nate looked at him. He was extremely tired. "But –"

"I know you have a lot of questions but it's time for you to go."

Nate nodded and got up and walked out. He walked out of the room and out to the living room where William left him and out to the hallway. He pushed at the wall firmly and it opened to the library and he quickly went down the stairs and to the tunnel that connected the coven with his house. He walked quickly and up the stairs that led right to his family room. William and Anne looked at him as we walked in. "Nathaniel? What happened? You were in there for hours."

Nate looked at the time. It was almost one in the morning. "I'm very tired. I need to go to bed."

"Wait, but what happened? What did he say to you?"

Nate looked at them both and let out a loud yawn. "I'm too sleepy to talk. I will see you tomorrow."

…

Nate woke up to his mom shaking him awake. "Wake up, Nate. Your ceremony is in a few hours and you still need to get a haircut."

Nate sleepily opened his eyes. "How long have I been asleep?"

"About 10 hours. Are you feeling okay?"

He sat up suddenly. "I gotta go."

"Yes! You can't be late for your hair cut. I'm going to pick up your tuxedo, so don't worry about that. Don't be long."

Nate went into the bathroom and took the fastest shower of his life. He quickly pulled on clothes and shoved his toothbrush, deodorant and a bunch of clothes into a duffle bag. He took the car waiting for him to the barbershop and told the driver that go get him dress socks. As soon as the car pulled away, he ran to the street and hailed a cab.

After a few minutes, Nate hopped out of the cab and was knocking on Serena's door. He let himself in after a second. "Serena?"

He heard footsteps and Carter appeared in the living room. "What are you doing here?"

"I was going to ask you the same question."

Serena walked into the room. "Nate? What are you doing here?"

"Me? What the hell is he doing here?"

"I was showing him my new apartment, we were going to have breakfast."

"What? Why?"

Serena rolled her eyes. "Carter, could you give us a second? The terrace has a great view."

Carter nodded and stepped outside.

Nate walked over to her. "Serena, you need to pack quickly."

"What? Pack? What are you talking about? Your bonding with Isabel in a few hours."

He shook his head at her. "No I'm not. I saw my future and it was miserable. We have to run away together now."

Serena looked at him. "Are you okay?"

"Yes! Why aren't you moving? Don't you want to be with me?"

"Yes, of course, Nate but –"

"But what? We can go anywhere; we just have to keep moving. I have cash and we can –"

"Nate, stop. Not like this."

Nate frowned at her. "What?"

"Not like this, Nate. I don't want you to give up your whole life for me. Our friends are here. Don't you want to go to college, be with Blair and Chuck? I don't want to spend the rest of my life running from William."

"So…you were just going to let me be with Isabel?"

She shook her head. "No of course not but I didn't want to ask you to betray your family for me. You realize that is how they're going to see it, right?"

"Serena, I'm not sure what you mean. Please, can you just pack some stuff? We need to leave right now before they realize I'm gone."

"No. We have to stay and fight for this. For us. We can appeal to the council."

Nate looked at her like she was crazy. "Do you honestly believe it's a democracy? William does whatever the hell he wants, Serena! And I know how this ends. This ends with him making me watch you burn. Yeah, you take off that ring in the sunlight and you're dead. Pretty ironic, isn't it? We can take a bullet to the heart but can't be in the sun for a minute."

Carter stepped into the room. "He's right, Serena. William won't hesitate to kill you."

"Nate, I'm not running. That will be a miserable life for the both of us."

Nate felt defeated for a moment. "Please…if this is the only way we can be together, you wouldn't take it?"

Serena shook her head. "Don't do that. It's not the only way. I know it."

"How do you know that?"

"I don't know. I can feel it. But I'm glad you're here, Nate."

Nate looked at her like she was crazy. "Why are you so calm?"

"Because you decided not to be with Isabel! All on your own! Do you have any idea how relieved I am?" She grabbed his face and kissed him.

Nate smiled at her even though he was scared. "Do you really want to stay here and face my grandfather?" Serena nodded at him. "I think I know who can help us."


	10. Chapter 10

Here's the next chapter! Please review, I'd love to hear what you guys think! xo

...

Serena quietly followed Nate. She thought going to the coven was the worst idea possible, but he asked her to trust him. They went to the library and to a bookshelf where Nate pulled at three books and she heard creaking. "Woah…is the wall moving?"

"Yup. Crazy, right? This has been here the whole time." He pushed firmly and they walked into the hallway. They walked for a bit until the hallway opened up to the cozy room with couches. "Elder."

Serena looked at Nate. She wanted to tell him there was no one here but instead she went to admire a painting.

There were footsteps descending the staircase. "Nate, is that you?"

Nate saw his figure appear. "Look, I'm sorry I came here. I just didn't know where else to go. This is Serena."

Serena turned to see a handsome man with wise eyes and white hair looking at her. "Oh, hello."

He smiled at her. "Well, aren't you lovely? Nate, she is stunning."

"I know." Nate smiled at him but it quickly faded. "I'm not sure what you were trying to accomplish by showing me what you did…but I'm guessing you didn't do it so I could bond with Isabel. I know this is asking for a lot…but can you help us?"

Maximilian was silent for a while. "Your grandfather is a very powerful man. Tradition is what has ensured the survival of the coven for centuries."

Serena frowned at him. "So is there nothing we can do? Maybe if we somehow proved to him that this isn't just some act of teenage rebellion."

The elder held out his hand to her. "May I?"

She put his hand on his and he grasped it with two hands. Serena let out a small gasp as his eyes went completely black and he stood as still as a statue. She wasn't scared though, and she let her eyes close.

After a minute, he let her go and looked at them both. "Very interesting, indeed. Your friend…Blair…she has visions?"

They nodded at him. "I think I know what can convince William to let you two be together, he won't be happy about it but it will appeal to his survival instinct."

Nate wasn't catching on. "What do we do?"

"You both go to William and tell him you want to be together and that you will reject the ceremony. Then you ask for a trial. He will give you a public trial and then the rest will fall into place."

"That's it?"

He nodded. "Just make sure Blair is there."

…

It had been an hour since Nate and Serena showed up at William's house and told him he wasn't going to be bonded to Isabel. William locked himself in his study with Nate while Serena paced around outside. She alternated between sitting and staring out the window too.

The door opened and Nate walked out. "Let's go. Our hearing is tonight."

Serena frowned but followed him quickly. "A hearing? Is that really necessary? Why can't he just let us be?"

Nate shook his head at her. "I wish but he thinks it's a personal betrayal to him. Needless to say, Isabel's family wants our heads."

"So when does the hearing start?"

"In two hours. The elders are going to meet to discuss everything beforehand. Eleanor is in Paris for a fashion show, so Blair is going to sit in. I think that's a good sign."

"Wait, the elders are meeting? Does that mean Elder Maximilian will be there too?"

He shook his head. "No. He technically has a right to be, more than any of them. But he's never showed up to one, or any council meeting. I'd never even met him until a couple of days ago."

"Nate, are you scared?"

He looked at her and nodded. "Yes. Are you?"

"No. I just have a feeling about this. It's going to be okay."

Nate rolled his eyes. "A feeling? That's it?"

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Did you just roll your eyes at me?"

He smiled innocently and put an arm around her. "Never." They walked into Central Park. "Let's go on a walk."

…

Nate led Serena to the familiar chairs in the center of the circular room. All eyes were on them. He gave her hand a squeeze and they took their seats.

Usually hearings were public, but this one only consisted of the council members and Isabel's father. Chuck had begged his father into letting him take his place for him. Blair and Chuck gave them worried looked as William began his opening statement. He started off by giving facts about how long the tradition of bonding had been going on. He cited the famous couples that were soul mates. He talked about how they were disgracing their customs.

Serena looked at Nate. "I thought this was a hearing…isn't there someone who is supposed to be defending us?"

Nate frowned at her. "We are supposed to be defending us."

All the questions William directed at them were phrased to only make them seem like a meaningless fling.

William cleared his throat. "I ask for them to be punished for conspiring and treason. For her, exile for 15 years. For him, a year in prison and whatever physical punishment is necessary. We must make it clear that this is unacceptable, no matter who it is."

Nate was shocked. "Treason!? He's crazy!"

"Silence!"

Blair stood up. "William, please! Be lenient."

"Sit down, Ms. Waldorf! Your being here is a courtesy to your mother."

Blair's body suddenly tensed up and her eyes went black. Serena gasped because she'd never seen that happen to her, but everyone else looked intrigued. After a few seconds her lips went up into a smile and she blinked and looked normal again.

William looked at her suspiciously. "What did you see?"

She walked down from her seat and went to him. She held out her hand. "Please. See for yourself."

William touched her hand and his eyes went black too. After a few seconds, he stepped away. A minute passed and they were still touching hands in front of Serena and Nate. Blair pulled away from him and walked quietly back to her seat.

William looked around the room, everyone was eager to hear what they saw. "I call for a recess. We will reconvene at the same time tomorrow."

…

William waited for the room to clear and then motioned for Serena and Nate to follow him into his office. He led the way and waited for them both to get there and closed the door behind him.

Nate stood protectively in front of Serena. "What is it?"

William poured himself a drink. He kept pouring until the glass was full and took a long sip. "You name your first child after me. You call him Liam for short. He's beautiful."

Serena's eyes widened and she really wished she could see the look on Nate's face. Nate didn't know what to say. At least now he knew they lived long enough to have children. "You mean we'll have more than one child?" It wasn't customary for people in the coven to have more than one kid, but it happened every now and then.

"You will have three. Can you believe it? They will terrorize these halls." He took another sip of their drink. "I am in shock. I saw them so clearly, I heard their laughter and they love me. And I them. "

Nate looked back at Serena and took her hand. He wasn't sure what to say. "I—"

William held his hand up to keep his from talking. "You two will be punished. There are plenty of things around here that need to be done. The books in the library are all surely out of order. I will think of something and you will be grounded, or whatever teenagers who behave inappropriately are subjected to."

William looked past Nate and right at Serena. He took another sip of his drink. "Now go, before I change my mind."

Nate said thank you quickly and then led Serena out of there as fast as possible. He walked out of the coven to see Blair and Chuck waiting outside. Blair ran to them. "You're here! Already? What happened? What is he going to do to you?"

Nate shook his head at her. "Nothing. Nothing at all. Oh um, we're grounded or something."

Blair hugged them both. "I'm so glad to hear that!"

Serena smiled at her. "Blair, I can't believe what you showed him. How did you come up with that?"

Blair shrugged. "I don't know. It was a vision. I've never had a clearer one. Can you guys believe it? I know how many children you're going to have 10 years from now but I can't even see what I'm having for dinner tonight."

Nate kissed Blair's cheek. "You saved us. Big time. I don't even know what to say."

Chuck let out a relieved sigh. "I don't know about you guys, but I could really use a drink."

…

"Happy birthday."

Serena felt a kiss on her lips and opened her eyes to see Nate smiling at her. They hadn't officially moved in together but they'd been inseparable for weeks.

"Wow…does everyone feel this shitty?"

Nate frowned at her. "Uh…not after you wake up, no. You've been asleep for over 20 hours."

She sat up slowly. "Oh."

"What is it?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. I am just still so tired."

"Sleep. We can postpone everything."

"Are you sure?"

Nate nodded. "Yes. What's important is that you feel well." He sat with her until she fell asleep then called Blair.

"Nate, what's up?"

"Hey, we're going to have to postpone the celebrations. Serena woke up not feeling too well so she went back to sleep."

"Oh…that's not normal."

"Yeah, you don't have to tell me that, Blair. But I'm trying not to freak out."

"She's going to be fine, Nate." She glanced at the clock. "You take care of her and I'll deal with everything else, okay?"

Nate nodded at her through the phone. "Thanks, you're the best."

Blair hung up the phone and started making calls. She walked right past the receptionist outside of Chuck's office. The receptionist quickly got up and followed up. "Miss Waldorf! Mr. Bass is busy and cannot be disturbed."

Blair turned to her. "Excuse me?" She knew for a fact that Chuck avoided Friday meetings at all costs.

"He has a very important meeting."

"What?"

She looked taken aback. "It was very last minute."

"With whom?" She rolled her eyes and took a seat. "Fine, will you tell him Serena's dinner is postponed? Thanks."

…

Nate smiled at Serena. "How are you feelin?"

Serena smiled back at him. "Different…but good."

"We still haven't celebrated your birthday, you know." He handed her a small box. "This is your present."

Serena opened the box to see beautiful diamond earrings. "Oh I love them, thank you."

Nate kissed her cheek. "Blair has been calling you nonstop. Something about going shopping?"

Serena nodded. "Yes! We're going to shop for dresses for the Founder's Day ball next week."

"Ah. But dinner tonight…the four of us?"

Serena smiled. "Perfect."

Serena showered and got dressed before she met up with Blair. Her muscles were a little tense but she felt great overall. She stopped at a café for a coffee.

"Serena?"

Serena turned around and felt her heart stop.

Dan flashed her a perfect smile. "Wow…I can't believe it's really you."

Serena hugged him tightly. His arms wrapped around her and held her close. She pulled away after a few seconds. "Hi Dan."

"Hi Serena." He gently touched a strand of her hair.

"What are you doing here?"

"I live here now. I'm doing a summer program at NYU and I'm going to start there in the fall."

"So…you're moving here?"

He nodded at her and suddenly looked serious. "Where have you been? It just kind of ended."

"It's a long story." She picked up her coffee. "Look, I have to go."

"Can I see you again?"

"Yes. Wait, no. I mean…"

Dan raised his eyebrows at her. "Please?"

Serena found herself nodding. "Okay."

Dan took her phone from her hand slowly and put his number in. "Text me…or call me, whenever." He leaned over and kissed her cheek. "It was good to see you."

Serena said nothing and walked away quickly. She ignored the butterflies in her stomach and felt incredibly guilty.


End file.
